A Life Shaped by Land, Whānau and Wairua
Howard’s connection to the Coromandel ran deep. He restored our dunes, planted our ngahere, and carried a genuine love for this place and its people. Howard supported Coromind contributing his writing and his encouragement. With aroha to his whānau, we share this piece in honour of a man whose life has touched many in our community.
Howard Saunders passed away peacefully on Friday, 7 November, surrounded by his four children, with karakia, a soft sea breeze, Dusty the dog at his feet and George Benson playing. In the days that followed, his whānau wrapped him in aroha at home before taking him to Wharekaho, where Ngāti Hei acknowledged his mana. His final journey was full of those cosmic little moments he loved so much, moments he would have absolutely raved about.
Howard’s story began on 28 June 1949 on the North Shore, raised by Kenneth and Dorothy alongside his siblings Lindsey, Lorraine, Blair, and Karl. At Bayswater Primary School, his favourite teacher, Miss Kapa, opened the door to waiata Māori, te ao Māori and environmental thinking. At ten, he helped plant oak trees with Richard St Barbe Baker and a classmate named Peter Blake, a moment that sparked a lifelong devotion to the land. Growing up in a family of books and stories, he became a man who treasured history, knowledge, and the power of words.
In his teens, Howard was part of the early wave of surfers who explored untouched coastlines across Aotearoa. In 1964, at just 15, he and his mates arrived at Hot Water Beach, where he first stood on the sand of Te Puia and felt something shift. He fell in love with the coast, the surf, and the mauri of the place. Camping at Te Puia Pā awakened a deep respect for wairua, whenua and whakapapa, shaping the course of his life. His parents soon bought a section there, beginning a golden era of surfing, camping, friendships and building the family’s beach house.
Howard carried a rebellious spirit through his youth, joining political movements and protesting injustices. It was something he passed on to his children — the belief that if something isn’t right, you stand up and speak out.
Fatherhood began early, and it became one of Howard’s greatest callings. He raised three children — Mary, Ange and Karl — with Claire Mason, through years spent living in beautiful rural pockets around the motu. Those memories are painted in colour: farm bikes, pine forests, gooseberries in the dunes, summers lived in tents, and the wild hair and moustache that got him sideways looks in the supermarket.
Later, he and Charmaine Smith welcomed his youngest daughter, Rachel, Howard stepped into fatherhood all over again with an open heart. In time he raised Rachel on his own, the two of them forming a strong bond shaped by a shared love of poetry, conservation and Hot Water Beach – a place both of them found a deep and lasting sense of belonging.
Howard’s working life blended practicality, ecological understanding and creativity. He began in farming before moving into landscaping, eventually teaching at WINTEC and guiding Rachel through her own apprenticeship with Natural Habitats.
His restoration work around the Coromandel spanned more than three decades. As a member of the Hot Water Beach Reserve Management Committee, he helped shift local priorities toward conservation, biodiversity, fencing, planting and trapping.
His work with Ngāti Hei, Joe Davis, and Peter Tiki Johnson was grounded in deep respect for tikanga and history. His environmental legacy includes thousands of trees planted, wetlands protected, dunes restored, nurseries established, and generations of schoolchildren and volunteers who learned from him. His “bucket-list” project, the restoration of Te Puia Pā and the surrounding ngahere, stands as one of his greatest gifts to the community.
Howard was kind, firm, hardworking and cheeky. A storyteller, mentor, joker, and deep thinker. He loved whakapapa and history, music with soul, and writing poetry that marked life’s moments. He was a man of land, sea, spirit, and curiosity — someone who believed there was more out there than just us. Nothing made him prouder than his mokopuna, who brought him endless joy.
In his later years, Howard was proud to have his own place at Hot Water Beach, the home of his heart. His garden grew wild and abundant, a reflection of the man who tended it. Even as cancer changed his days, he never complained. He kept teaching, writing, restoring, and sharing stories right to the end.
Howard lived life entirely on his own terms, guided by the tides, the bush, the stories of his ancestors and his deep love for whānau.
Words by Cushla Aston and The Coromind Team
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