Obituaries.
A Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration for the Life of
Matthew David Beattie
MATTHEW BEATTIE
his whole life. After 26 years in the Army, he transferred his love of helping people into the civilian workspace. Dad had a vision of a behavioural healthcare company that would help a wide variety of people cope with life’s physical and mental challenges. His company Instep was born, eventually becoming the Instep Group. With the help of much valued employees and contractors he was able to pursue his vision of enabling positive change and well-being in often challenging circumstances.
Colonel, RNZA. CO 16th Fd Regt 1995-1997. Colonel Commandant RNZA 2017-2019. BOSNIA 1995 WCOBA President, 1998-2000 and 2013 - 2019. Matthew Beattie was born in Auckland, September, 1954 to Norma and David Beattie. He was the third child of seven and the second of three sons. Always tall and well-built for his age, it was clear early on that physically Matt had inherited the robust Macdonald genes from his mother. Described by Norma as an 'uncomplicated, happy child', Matt preferred playing with cardboard boxes and pots and pans than toys. Matt grew up on Auckland's North Shore, He attended St Anne's on Takapuna Beach/ Hauraki Invitation School before heading to St Kentigern's Prep join the family for refreshments after the service at in Remuera (where he was Deputy Head Boy), Club, Level 5/88 The Terrace, Wellington. and then St Kentigern's College until the end of Form 4. In 1970, the family moved to Wellington for David Beattie's role as a newly appointed Supreme High Court Judge. Sir David then went on to become Governor General from 1980 - 1985. This meant a change of school for Matt and he started in the fifth form at Wellington College - the beginning of a long and deep connection with that wonderful school. He fully embraced school life. He was in the 1st XV rugby for three years as a loose forward, and became a popular Head Prefect in 1972, his last year. Matt's sister, Margie Beattie said, the family regularly went to his rugby games, and our house in Wadestown Road was most often the starting point for their post-match gatherings, much to Bridget's and my delight. He had a great circle of friends - some were sporty; some not, but all cute! Matt became Old Boys President in 1998-2000 and then in 2013 until his passing. He was an active patron of the Rugby Club and a member of the Wellington College Foundation. He had a long and enduring relationship with former Headmaster Roger Moses, who he'd known from St Kent's Prep days and then played against in rugby when Roger was at Auckland Grammar. Matt and Roger were part of a 'dream team': fundraising, erecting new buildings, and planning the 150th celebrations together. Matt's military career was very extensive - he served from 1974 to 1998, in the Army, beginning as a TF Gnr, L/Bdr, and Bdr with 22(D) Bty in Wellington before being commissioned as first 1 TF then a RF RNZA Officer. He served as BC of 161 Bty from 1990-1991, was CO of the 16th Field
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The LAMPSTAND | 2019
Dad also took pleasure in mentoring young people partaking in schemes such as Project K and Marsden’s Young Enterprise Group. To the wider family, Dad was always a willing pair of ears to help anyone who sought advice on a career change, or wanted an opinion on something.
Regt. from 1995-1997, and also served in Bosnia as Senior National Officer for NZIFOR, finishing up his full-time Army career in 1998 at HQ NZDF as Deputy Director Joint Operations. After 21 September 1954 - 9 September 2019 resigning his commission, Matt founded, InStep Group, a behavioural healthcare company. Matt then agreed to become Col Comdt of the RNZA in 2017 and served in that role until very recently.
Matt
While on deployment in Europe in 1980, on a skiing break, he met his future wife, a young woman from England named Sarah, who moved with Matt back to New Zealand when Matt's next posting arose. They went on to have two children, Emilie and Alex. It was this love of skiing that meant he was in the right place at the right time when he met Sarah. As Margie said, Matt's generosity and care for others were at the core of his DNA. These were qualities that made him a good son, brother, friend, leader, and later, soldier and managing director. Matt's son Alex, has also kindly provided the eulogy he gave at Matt's service to share with fellow Old Boys. My father was a people person. He loved his family, friends, soldiers, and work colleagues. Dad loved to tell stories about the people in his life and was a talented speaker who had a way with words. He didn’t see public speaking as a tool to proselytize or show off, but as a means to connect with people. Dad didn’t think leadership was about being the front man or performing upon a stage. For him, it was about building a stage for others to perform on. Dad believed in duty and was strongly influenced by his father David. Duty was a privilege rather than a burden. Dad called it servant leadership and practiced it throughout
As a Beattie, Dad had an opinion on pretty much everything. There is something about my Dad’s side of the family: ample personality, a mana or presence, and a boldness to tell you what they really think – you might call it 'Beattie confidence'. It was Beattie confidence that emboldened Dad to drop out of law school in favour of an adventure in the army. Most importantly, it was Beattie confidence that positioned Dad to meet his wife and our Mum, Sarah. Just after Christmas in 1979, when Dad was a young officer on exchange with the British Army, he decided to go skiing in Austria with a Welsh army mate, Dai. They flew to Munich and headed to the airport foyer to hop on a coach to Söll in Austria. Anticipating military level organisation with their transport, they found instead mayhem with 300 to 400 people and twice as many bags waiting to be shepherded onto buses to different destinations. Where most people might have waited for instructions , Dad, who had had a couple drinks on the plane, decided that it was chaos waiting to be organised and sprang into action. Within a short time, everyone was on a bus. It was just unfortunate that they were all the wrong buses! Dad and Dai were giggling when they hoped onto the last of the buses. But Dad’s eyes lit up when they took the last seat behind Sarah and her younger sister Vicky. Dad popped up like a jack-in-a-box introducing himself as an insurance salesman from Newcastle. Mum saw straight through Dad’s terrible Geordie accent but liked the idea that Dad could be a bit of fun. A few weeks later, Dad was in South Croydon meeting Mum’s parents Jill and Mike. Jill, a long-time member of the Royal Horticultural Society, couldn’t believe that an upstart young New Zealander had procured a coveted ticket to attend the Chelsea Flower Show on member's day. Evidently Beattie confidence had made quite the impression.