Man leaves Invercargill City Council $90k in his will in 'stunning' gesture

Friday, 20 December 2019

As part of his will Derek Gostelow has left $90,000 to the Invercargill City Council to be put towards the Otatara area where Gostelow lived.

An Invercargill man has left the Invercargill City Council $90,000 as part of his will and asked for it to be spent on the Otatara community.

Derek Gostelow died aged 86 at Peacehaven on July 10.

Gostelow himself was an only child and did not have any children of his own.

He asked for his estate to be split three ways, between the Invercargill branch of the Salvation Army, Rowena Jackson Retirement Village, and the council.

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Invercargill council chief executive Clare Hadley said it was a pleasant surprise when she received a letter in September, on behalf of Gostelow's estate, advising that he had left the council $90,000.

The letter says; 'Derek's last Will reflects their desire to benefit the Invercargill City Council for community projects in the Otatara area and the community where he [and late wife Marlene] lived most of their adult life.'

Hadley has held a chief executive role in local government since 2007 and said it was the first time she had come across a person leaving a council money as part of their will.

People had donated park benches and other type items but it was unusual to get a bequest such like this, she said.

'It's a wonderful gesture, it's pretty stunning,' she said.

Hadley understood Gostelow was well known in the Otatara community given he was a regular runner and walker around the area.

The council has received the money and will now work through how it would be spent in a way that acknowledged Gostelow's wishes.

Hadley will speak with the council's interim parks manager Michele Frey to work through potential options.

'[Frey] would look to find something that would really honour his memory.'

Gostelow was born in the South London borough of Lambeth in 1933.

As a seven-year-old he was one of 3.5 million children in Britain who were taken away from their homes to avoid air raids during World War II.

He survived three air raids before the decision was made to get him out of London.

Gostelow went on to serve in the merchant navy where he made a stop in Bluff.

He met a Bluff girl who he would later marry and the couple lived in Black Rd in Otatara for many years. His wife Marlene died in 2014.

'Maybe it reflects the Southland way that the weather might be cooler but the people are warmer, and he made himself a new home here,' Hadley said.

As a sign of gratitude for the care Rowena Jackson showed Marlene during her later years, Gostelow recognised the retirement village through his will.