MSP crest on headstone a permanent reminder
The late Rodney 'Diego' Moses has marked his loyalty to Marist St Pats with the club's crest appearing on his headstone at an unveiling on Queens Birthday Weekend.
MSP life member Kevin Allan was at the unveiling, along with Martin Beveridge, a contemporary of Diego who made the trip up from Dannevirke. 'All his whanau knew he had played for MSP in Wellington,' Kevin says, 'and the ceramic MSP tile on the marble headstone was a pleasant surprise.'
Diego's links with the club go back to 1967 when he arrived in Wellington to take up a trade trainee plastering apprenticeship, around the same time as Willy Dunn who hung up his boots and moved to Gisborne just a few seasons ago. The pair played for Marist then MSP following the amalgamation in 1971.
Diego was a handy front rower in junior and third grade teams and will be remembered by many as an uncompromising player and a fine citizen. He worked on numerous Wellington building sites, as a steel fixer as well as a plasterer before returning home to the Bay of Plenty late in the 70s to run family land at Te Teko - 'Texas', as he called it.
Kevin Allan reconnected with him after moving to Whakatane in 2007. The Moses family is well known in Te Teko and Diego was chairman of his marae komiti when Kevin valued the marae. In latter years, Diego was also retained part-time as a counsellor in the Maori mental health field. He passed away in November 2010.
MSP is honoured that its crest stands as a permanent reminder of Diego's fondness for his old club and his time in Wellington.
MSP Supporters
Shamrock Club
