John DUNMORE Obituary

Glynnis Cropp has just informed us of the sad news of your father´s death; We offer to you and to Paul and to your families our deepest sympathy. We have happy memories of our three years at Massey (´69-72) and it was a pleasure to work with John, who made us feel at home in NZ and who had created such a friendly atmosphere in the Arts Faculty. There were many happy moments with John and Joyce and other Faculty members. We remember your trip to Toulouse and John´s too, when he was invited to a festival in
Albi to speak about Lapérouse. We had the pleasure of seeing you all in North Auckland on a short trip to NZ early in the new millennium. We kept in touch with a regular Christmas card, Glynnis kept us posted on John´s literary activities and regularly sent us his publications. We shall remember John and Joyce in our prayers.
With all our sympathy. Jacqueline and Peter Tosney

John had a very long life of achievements of significance which will endure. You and all your family will miss him very greatly. I hope you will find consolation in memories of the time you all shared with John.

For me he was the Head of Department who influenced my entire academic career, and a colleague with whom I shared a love of France and lively interest in French language and culture. I benefited from his leadership, advice, and wisdom, especially when I followed his example in undertaking the responsibilities of Head of Department and later Dean of Humanities. He filled these roles with seriousness lightened, with appropriate and inimitable wit, characteristic of his personality. As you well know, his scholarly research and writing is a very significant legacy he has left for present and future scholars. Former students whom I meet now invariably enquire "how Professor Dunmore is", as for them he represents France and French at Massey, the French culture he imparted to them in his teaching, his writing and his publications. At the same time, he was keen to have news of their activity and successes, and likewise of former academic colleagues.

Outside of the University, John Dunmore was dedicated to presenting knowledge of France today in the wider community and supporting those teaching French in schools and other centres of education, a role he assumed before he became a teacher and continued thereafter, especially through initiatives and activities of the Alliance Française in New Zealand.

I had the privilege of working with John and of knowing and appreciating his understanding of France and of the French. I am deeply grateful for what he has given me over the years we worked together. Other colleagues also value the insights and examples that were part of his natural, gentlemanly manner, and his belief in fair play for all.

Glynnis M. Cropp

On behalf of my late brother Bernard L Dubras, it was a great privilege for us to meet and convey to John an appreciation of and thanks for his friendship, from earliest Occupation banking days and through the years since. Requiescat in Pace.

My memories of John are entwined with my Langley family.He supported Angie, my daughter, one Christmas without hesitation. Family was a very important part of John's life. A life well lived, with humour, compassion and a great deal of love. A tree will be planted, and the branches will support you Pat and Paul, and your families, and the roots will keep you all together. With love, cousin Sylvia.

I feel privileged to have known John Dunmore, an interesting and complex man with wide-ranging interests. His contribution was considerable. Thanks to John many New Zealanders became acquainted with French exploration of the Pacific. It impressed me that John was both a researcher and an `enabler´ of other writers and scholars, through his publishing enterprise and his senior academic position. John´s family can be rightly proud of John´s legacy. May he rest in peace.

So sorry to get news that your dear Dad, our Uncle John, has died just a few months shy of his 100th birthday.

He has led a very busy and independent long life, many years since your Mum, our Aunty Joyce died.

My sincere condolences to all the family.

Our thoughts are with you and the girls, with Kevin and Paul´s family.
John´s love of life and writing, his passion for exploring and dedication to studies made him unique and so interesting to anyone who met him. We had that privilege and he will be remembered !

John´s legacy is immense and will be carried on by many New Zealanders. He had a great mind and was a tireless thinker and writer!

We were very sorry to read of John's death. Even at that age death is always such a sad event.
Our sincere condolences.
Much love.

What a big life he lived and what a momentous passing of the baton, for all of us.
Go well

To have lived until nearly 100 and still having a good sense of humour is amazing. He achieved so much in his life and has made such a mark on the world that you and your brother must feel very proud of him. I remember my parents loving going to Paris with John and Joyce and how impressed and privileged they felt with him as their guide!

I shall be thinking of you, Paul and all the family at this time.

I learn with great sadness of the death of Professor Dunmore, my colleague in the Humanities Faculty, whose wit, elegance and scholarship enhanced Massey University.

Forever a gentleman. A caring Greenhithe neighbour and good friend.
Lover of animals, particularly JD.
Condolences to Pat, Paul and family.
Laraine and Michael Hill

Such an important figure in the history of Massey University and of Palmerston North more generally. All my sympathy, Pat, Paul and family.