If a Taranaki farmer had followed his usual routine and changed his clothes after a day working on the farm -- he would most likely be dead.
Lyall Bunn received a massive electric shock on Friday when the fence he was holding came into contact with over head powerlines in Tarata.
Mr Bunn's friend 43-year-old father of three Stephen Potroz, was not so lucky being killed in the same manner an hour earlier.
Mr Bunn had been returning home when he saw the ambulance crew at Mr Potroz's farm.
He was told Mr Potroz had died of a heart attack and decided to finish the fencing job for him.
"I took the wire, took half a dozen steps and I got hit," he told the Taranaki Daily News.
The shock rendered Mr Bunn unconscious, but he was still wearing his thick rubber soled farm boots, which lessened the blow and likely saved his life.
"Usually I drive back to New Plymouth in shorts and jandals but for some reason on this day I didn't. I really don't know why."
Mr Potroz, widely known as Potty, had been deeply involved in the community as a board of trustees member at Inglewood's Kaimata school, a councillor for Taranaki Fish and Game and a Taranaki indoor bowls representative.
He leaves behind three children, Mark, 13, Ryan, 11, and Laura, 9.
"I don't really want to let myself think about it actually, but I guess I'll cope somehow," his widow Sally Potroz told the paper.
Allen Stancliff, of Taranaki Fish and Game, said Potty's death was a huge blow for his family and a great loss for the organisation.
"He was a great councillor and a really good liaison between us and the farming community.
"If anything needed to be done Potty was the man to help out first. He was just an all round top guy."
