Being politically active is in my blood and can be traced back directly to the influences of my dear old Dad, Leonard Issac Prager, who passed away peacefully this October.
One of my earliest memories of protest action is walking hand in hand with my Pop down Queen Street carrying home-made Peace and Love signs in a New Zealand Nuclear Free march.
He was 'one in a million’, an adventurous, creative, gentle man who lived outside the norms of society, encouraging others to join him if they dared. Born in Los Angeles in 1931 to Harry and Ethel Prager, Len and his sister Nina grew up in a world recovering from the Depression and war, when LA had more orange trees than freeways, when farms were becoming dusty movie sets, when the future seemed full of hope and opportunity.
However, Len became extremely alarmed when, working as a young civil engineer for the department of Water & Resources, he discovered that radiation from the A-bomb testing in the Mojave Desert was leaching into the water supply, polluting crops, livestock and humans. When he reported this travesty to his boss, he was called into the office, the report was torn up and binned with the advice, “Look, Prager, keep your mouth shut and you’ll go far.”
Something snapped in Dad that day. With the Vietnam War raging and the threat of nuclear attack from Cuba, he decided to leave the USA with his young wife Anne and three bright-eyed kids, to embark on an odyssey across the Pacific Ocean aboard the S.S. Oriana to the farthest point he could find on the planet – New Zealand.
We arrived on a misty morning in late September 1963, greeted by the spectacular symmetry of Rangitoto nestled in the sparkling waters of the Waitematā Harbour. Len flourished in New Zealand like a koru slowly unfurling into a giant fern. Besides his family he brought his entire workshop: lathe, drill press, drop saw, 52 boxes of hand tools and a collection of his uncle’s nuts and bolts used to build Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose airplane.
The intrepid Prager family settled in the magical valleys of Titirangi, where kauri reached skyward, ponga peppered the hills and green geckos still dwelled. As a five-year-oId I went to sleep in a concrete jungle and awoke in a forest. These early experiences fuelled my deep passion for social justice and my fierce protection of nature. It was Dad who reminded me that there is never any gain without pain and to be kind and compassionate even in the midst of dissent.
Pop believed women could do anything and encouraged me to explore my heart's desires. He bought me a 1952 Ford Anglia when I was 15 and taught me how to fix it, change the carburettor, gap the spark plugs and replace the head gasket. I learnt to be fearless.
Len’s creativity exploded at this time. He explored many different mediums – art, crafts, furniture, jewellery, lighting, construction, eventually concentrating on carving beautiful handmade leather belts which he sold to hippies and businessmen up and down the country. Pop was an early pioneer of fero-cement and he involved us kids in making sculptures, playground shapes and self-watering planters. He dreamed of building a floating fero-cement houseboat to live on, replete with veggie gardens and self-sufficient energy.
By the early 1970s, my parents separated and I moved into town with my Mum. Our family home at 26 Tainui Road became a focal point with Pop at the centre. These were the halcyon days and nights full of music and singing. Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young blasting out on the record player. Local impresario Warwick Broadhead danced in a golden loin cloth on the table reciting poetry. There were parties, festivals and lengthy political discussions about how to save the world.
In the mid 1980s, Len spent four years transforming a London double decker bus into a mobile information centre. Travelling from town to town across the motu preaching the good word of organics, biodynamics, recycling and sustainable community living. He was indeed the original human internet.
Len’s affect on those around him, young or old, rich or poor, kind or conflicted, was always to make them pause, think and laugh about their lives then encourage them to do something to change things, to make life better for themselves, their families, their communities and the planet.
Pop’s was a life well lived. (Lisa Prager, Westmere)
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Published: November 2023