Kerry Ellis
Kerry Ellis’s feisty approach to life might have been apparent at just four or five.
Current and former service members form a guard of honour after the funeral.
Then, according to a tribute read out at his funeral this month, he and his lifelong friend would ‘terrorise’ the roads around their Taumarunui neighbourhood, deposit used tree tomato skins in post-boxes, dig caves and build forts in the pine forest. Together they watched from the bank as houses and other debris washed down the Ongarue River in the 1958 floods.
At age 10, Kerry went to live with his grandmother, helping her out as she battled severe arthritis, and at just 16 he began his navy career. That was in May 1968, when he joined as a junior weapon electrical mechanic.
Along with the family he went on to have with his wife Pat, the navy became the most important thing in Kerry’s life.
In recognition of that, his funeral service at the Raleigh Street Christian Centre had a distinctly military flair with uniformed and ex-service staff forming a guard of honour and an address delivered by Commander Keith Wisnesky, RNZNR regional naval officer for the Bay of Plenty region.
KERRY ELLIS: 28 April 1952 – 5 January 2026
Kerry Ellis was honoured at a military-styled funeral.
He said Kerry was ‘fiercely proud to be navy, and the navy was proud to have him amongst its ranks”.
Kerry rose to the rank of petty officer weapon mechanic and served with several onshore establishments and navy vessels before transferring to the navy’s regulating branch (police).
A highlight was his 1981 posting to Queen Elizabeth II’s yacht Britannia for a couple of weeks. Wisnesky said not many Kiwi sailors get to do that, and Kerry was the only PO Regulator to be posted to the Royal Yacht.
In 1983, Kerry and the family were posted to Singapore for two years. On his return, Kerry undertook more navy postings before leaving the navy in May 1988. Eleven years later he was appointed as a navy relations officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and spent over six years ensuring the navy was represented in his own Cambridge community.
His many medals were worn by one of his grandsons at the funeral service.
After leaving the navy, the family moved to Cambridge where Kerry took on a courier run and did several other jobs, then worked in corrections for 20 years. His brother Bob Ellis told those at the service that Kerry dabbled in racehorses and greyhounds, both with questionable success.
Celebrant David Natzke said Kerry was very much a family man who was also deeply proud of his navy career and proud of New Zealand’s service to the rest of the world.
“Despite having other careers during his lifetime, for Kerry it was a case of once a sailor, always a sailor.”
Family members carry Kerry Ellis’ casket at the end of the service. Photo: Viv Posselt
A 2022 image of Kerry Ellis, centre, after being presented with his Operational Service Medal at an RSA gathering in Cambridge. Fellow recipients Bob Peterson and Mark Ryan are flanked in the image by then Brigadier Jon Broadley and then Cambridge RSA president Tony Hill. Photo: Viv Posselt
