Central Otago widow Lizzie Kirk is praising the community for rallying since her husband’s cancer diagnosis and following his death.
"It’s overwhelming. You can’t describe it and you don’t expect it. It is amazing and I can’t begin to thank people enough but that’s what you get living in a small community."
After a cancer battle, her husband Murray "Kirky" Kirk, of Becks, was surrounded by his family when he died on May 21, aged 52.
He had a stroke in 2022 and was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in July last year.
Mr Kirk continued to work operating crutching trailers until he had a seizure in February this year.
His funeral service was held in WS Hickey Woolstore in Oturehua on May 29.
The smell of the woolstore reminded Mrs Kirk of the aroma of their work van, which transported shearers.
"We used to loan it to the school and I’d try and clean it out and Kirky would be like ‘nah, Liz, it smells of money’ so the woolstore was a good fit."
At the funeral, Mrs Kirk said her husband loved winding people up.
"If he teased you, annoyed you or gave you a nickname, it was usually because he really liked you. That was his love language."
Her speech ended "Kirky, you were deeply loved by us all and always will be".
Earnscleugh Station High Country Genetics co-owner Amanda Campbell approached her at the supermarket last month, to ask if the stud could sell a rising 2-year-old bull at its annual auction as a fundraiser for the family.
The Kirk family had worked on Earnscleugh Station for many years and knew the Campbell family through various community groups.
The Kirk family attended the bull sale for the first time and charity bull Earnscleugh Thyme 244789 sold for $13,000.
The fundraising result was "amazing" and so were the Campbell family, Mrs Kirk said.
"I appreciate the support."
Earnscleugh Station High Country Genetics co-owner Duncan Campbell said the Kirks were "a good, hard-working family".
"Kirky has done our tailing here for years and he is a really nice fella and really good for the community, a volunteer for everything and did everything for everybody else, so it is nice to do something for his family."
Richard Subtil, of Omarama Station, bought the charity bull despite not knowing the Kirk family.
"It is a good bull and a fair price and the good cause is a nice extra."
The Campbell family were great people, community-minded and he knew it would be for a good cause.
"If he worked for the Campbells for a long time, he must have been a good guy."
In January, Scott Armstrong and his wife Trina and Paddy Henderson arranged a shear-a-thon billed Clip for a Cause, in Wedderburn.
The lamb owners paid for the shearing and items were auctioned to raise funds for the Kirk family.
About 8300 lambs were shorn across seven stands from 7am Friday to 11.30am Saturday.
At times, each stand had a queue of up to four shearers waiting to shear sheep.
"It was amazing, it was actually overwhelming. It is hard to comprehend ... what a wonderful community"
The final lamb was shorn by Mr Kirk.
A journey to the Kirk family owning a shearing run began when Mr Henderson sold it to Mr Kirk and Mr Armstrong.
When Mr Armstrong went farming, the Kirk family bought the run outright about 25 years ago.
After the stroke, the Kirk family sold the main run and continued a tailing run operating crutching trailers.
After the seizure, the crutching trailers were sold to sisters Pagan Rimene and Charis Morrell.
Mr Kirk was born in Gore in 1973, the son of farmers.
The Kirk family moved to Oturehua in 1984 and attended Oturehua School and Maniototo Area School, where he was runner-up to the dux.
After getting a degree in management and marketing from the University of Otago, he worked in the arable sector in Australia.
In 1996, he bought land in Oturehua and called it "Bastard Flat Station" and ran sheep and cattle.
He then bought the shearing run.
Everyone loved tailing lambs on Earnscluegh Station, Mrs Kirk said.
"We had a lot of North Islanders working for us and the scenery up here is just amazing so everyone wanted to work at Earnscleugh and Amanda and Duncan are so awesome to work for."
