Mervyn and Theresa Duncan

Mervyn grew up on a farm between Cambridge and Hamilton.  His father died when Mervyn was only 17 so he managed these farms from an early age.  He was the first person to grow maize in the Waikato and was always looking for ways to improve productivity and imported specialised harvesting equipment.  He fattened stock during the winter and would buy 3 - 4 year old beef cattle from Gisborne, and it would take 3 months for the drovers to move the stock back to Mervyn’s farm in Cambridge.

He was 42 when he met Theresa, and they were married for 38 years.  Theresa was working as an interior decorator for a paint shop in Hamilton when she met Mervyn.  They moved to Te Puna in 1989 where they had a dehydrating plant for grass, lucerne, hops and barley.  Theresa opened a gift shop “There’s Art Cottage” as she was very good with floral arrangements and won a lot of competitions.

They moved to Oropi in 2002, and Theresa died in 2009.

Mervyn died in 2015.