On Saturday, 19 October, Te Anau lost a ray of sunshine.

On that gloomy spring day, a well-known local personality, Raymond William Herbert Willett, or Ray to everyone who knew him, passed away.

Activist, environmentalist, eccentric, tireless community mover and shaker, comedian, supporter of good causes, animal lover and outdoor enthusiast – these are just some epithets that spring to mind in relation to the man whose association with Fiordland went back more than half a century.

Originally from London, at 16 Ray saw a sign in a window saying, “Come to New Zealand”.

He went in and picked up a form to fill in.

At home, when he told his parents, Edward and Catherine Willett, about his plans, they tried to persuade him to stay, but he said he wanted to be a farmer and that his mind was made up to go.

Ray Willett holding his niece on the day of his departure from England, 6 August 1953. Photo: Ray Willett’s private collection

He qualified under the child migrant scheme and joined a group of 15 youngsters on a voyage from London to Wellington aboard the ocean passenger liner RMS Rangitata to arrive in New Zealand on 9 September 1953.

Ray was placed with Joe and Marl Burnside in Northland to help with milking cows.

The young lad’s love affair with Fiordland started in 1956 when he embarked on a motorbike tour of New Zealand which took him from Auckland to Milford Sound.

He came back for the 1958-59 summer season to take on a job of a guide and track hand on the Milford Track for the Tourist Hotel Corporation (THC).

In 1961 while working at the Chateau on Mt Ruapehu Ski Field, Ray met an attractive Kiwi blonde, Helen Shepherd.

Freshly back from a 3-year stint in the UK, Helen got a job at the Ruapehu ski field cafeteria while Ray worked in the boot room.

At the end of the winter season, they came to Te Anau to work on the Milford Track.

Two years later they were married.

Ray Willett at Mackinnon Pass on the Milford Track with Clinton Valley below, 1958. Photo: Zygmunt Kepka (with permission)

The couple managed the Pompolona Hut on the Milford Track during the summer 1964-65, before THC asked them to run the Lake Waikaremōana motor camp for six months.

Half a year turned into five and a half years in the Urewera National Park, but the grandeur of Fiordland lured them back for good in 1970.

The Willetts were both involved in the Save Manapouri campaign back in the ‘70s to prevent the raising of the levels of lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as part of the construction of the Manapouri Power Station.

Passionate about the environment Mr Willett had been involved with conservation since 1959, when he came to Fiordland to work on the Milford Track as a mountain guide.

This is when he saw his first stoat and learned about their impact on the New Zealand native birds.

Later as a National Park Ranger he set up predator trap lines at the Eglinton and the Hollyford Valleys, and continued trapping to the end of his days.

Ray Willett with a ferret he caught on his Kepler Track trap line in 2023. Photo: Beth Masser

All this work has earned Ray the conservation champion title he received in 2008 at the Department of Conservation annual awards for his extensive contribution to various conservation initiatives in Te Anau and Fiordland areas.

One of the founding members of the Fiordland Tramping and Outdoor Recreation Club (FTORC), in 2023 Ray was granted a lifetime membership of the club.

Known for his zest for life many younger individuals might envy, at 65 he was the oldest person to complete the 2001 New Zealand Coast to Coast race in one day for which he was awarded the Endurance trophy.

He competed in 25 Kepler Challenges, finally retiring from this mountain endurance race in 2013, aged 77.

His other achievements include climbing Mitre Peak (1692m) in Milford Sound at the age of 76, completing an 8-day Outward Bound course at 77, and at the age of 80 participating in a 15-hour epic caving journey down New Zealand's deepest vertical shaft called Harwood Hole.

The popular Te Anau restaurant, Redcliff Café, was built and owned by Ray and Helen Willet in 1978.

Ray Willett and local GP Dr. David Hamilton (left) on top of Mitre Peak, Milford Sound, Fiordland, 2011. Photo: Supplied

Originally used as a craft shop, it was converted to a Restaurant & Bar in 1993 and quickly became a favourite meeting place for locals, travellers and performing artists.

Its manager, Megan Houghton became a close and life-long friend to Ray and Helen.

In 1990 Ray Willett was named the Fiordland tourist personality of the year which acknowledged his part in playing Te Anau’s first European settler, Richard Henry during the town’s centenary in 1983, and explorer Quintin Mackinnon during the Milford Track centenary celebrations in 1988 and again in 1989. No doubt Ray’s long-time involvement with Fiordland Players, the local theatrical society, has helped him to play these roles convincingly.

Ray Willett with a statue of his hero Quintin Mackinnon, 18 May 2015. Photo: Alina Suchanski

Ray never shied from putting himself out there for a good cause.

Being blessed with the natural “gift of the gab” and quirky sense of humour has landed him many MC roles and speaking engagements at dinners, meetings, conferences and as part of the DOC’s Summer Programme.

He loved making people laugh, be it reciting long humorous poems or walking his pet pig, Penelope, on the shore of Lake Te Anau.

Ray's distinctive signage can be seen at numerous places around Te Anau. Photo: Fiordland Trails Trust/Facebook

Ray Willett died aged 88, leaving behind his infectious love for the mountains and rivers of Fiordland, his appreciation of everything this amazing region has to offer and of course his distinctive signage.

He will be missed by many.

A memorial service to celebrate the life and times of Ray will be held at 1pm, Friday 1st November 2024 at the Fiordland Events Centre, Luxmore Drive, Te Anau.

Messages to 24 Charles Nairn Drive, RD 1 Te Anau 9679 or to Ray's tribute page at frasersfunerals.co.nz/tributes where the livestream can be accessed.