Ian Gordon Ayson

Ian Gordon Ayson, 1902-1972

Ian Ayson, son of John and grandson of Peter, was a member of the committee of four who undertook the responsibility of the first reunion in Dunedin in 1953.  Ian was also a member of the committee elected in 1954.
The Ayson homes located at Kew and later on at Lookout Point, were the frequent meeting places for southern cousins visiting town, as well as for North Island cousins taking an occasional holiday south. His wife, Tonie, took a keen interest in the Ayson family and her hospitality was legendary.
Life was not easy for Ian Ayson, who was raised at Linwood in Christchurch. Infantile paralysis (polio) was to cripple him at age three, leaving him confined to a wheelchair unt il age 16. The sad loss of his mother, Marian, when he was 13 left him bereft for many years. A major operation under a Dr White, of Timaru, in the early 1920s gave him mobility but left him with a permanent limp.
He took up gardening as an occupation and after marrying, moved to Dunedin where a shortage of work led him to the Dunedin wharves. Always neat with figures, Ian worked as a tally clerk and union secretary right up to and through the war years. The depression years were a trying time but from the mid 1930s and through the war a 10 to 12 hour day, seven days a week, was the norm for long stretches - a lifestyle that was to leave him in indifferent health.
Ian was to stay with shipping right through to his death in 1972, filling an administration role in the firm of H. I. Tapley & Co. (later Tupley Swift) with whom he became assistant manager.

Ian and Antonia had 3 children:

Edward Charles Ayson 15/06/1926 - 01/17/2015

Margaret Marion Ayson 28/12/1929

Ian James Ayson 12/12/1937