Lenise Jean Farrow, nee Crawford, from one of Howick’s pioneering families, has died.
She passed away peacefully on September 16, aged 95.
Her great grandfather John Crawford established a transport business in 1851, sailing a scow from Howick Beach to Auckland.
His sons John II and Thomas started Crawford’s horse buses in 1883 with cream and maroon colours that continue today. In 1912 they started a motorbus service which continued until 1944 when they sold the business which became the Howick and Eastern Bus Company.
When the Auckland to Howick concrete road opened in 1931, Lenise turned on the reticulated water supply as the four-year-old daughter of John III, the chairman of the Howick Town Board.
The Crawford Reserve in Picton Street is on the site of Crawford’s horse-bus stables and motorbus depot from 1900 to 2002.
The Crawford Medical Centre next to the Crawford Reserve was built in 1926 for Fanny Crawford after her husband died in 1924. They had a 10-acre farm with house cows, sheep and turkeys.
The Crawford homestead provided seven bedrooms for their bus drivers.
Manukau City Council bought the Crawford Reserve in 2002 to preserve the sea views from Stockade Hill.
Her death notice in the NZ Herald read: “Treasured daughter of the late Jack and Ethel Crawford. Beloved wife of the late Charles (Chas) and much-loved mother of Sue. Cherished Nana to Alison and Jennifer and adored great-grandmother of Benjamin. Lenise was a much-loved and devoted member of the Howick community her entire life and will be greatly missed.”
Alan La Roche
Howick Historian
