Wooden heart | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Sophie Smith meets a man who has guided budding carpenters into the trade for more than 40 years.

He's built more than 100 houses, but Earl Johnson - in his 44th year working full-time at Unitec - says his real legacy is teaching others.

The humble tutor has guided thousands of woodworkers. He started at the Mt Albert campus in 1977 after transferring from a similar role at Manukau Institute of Technology. His broad, friendly face is aged only by smile lines that deny the 70 years behind it.

Despite two replaced knees, his gait is double mine and I struggle to keep up. When we enter his world of woodcraft, I'm impressed by the expansive super-sized workrooms all in tidy showroom-shed order. He settles against a bench and leans forward comfortably on his hands. There's not a seat in sight. Earl is clearly on his feet most of the day. I ask if he's thinking of slowing down.

"Maybe next year. It has gone through my mind I might go to three or four days. We've got a caravan up in Mangawhai at Riverside, and then we might be able to do a bit more fishing," he says with a contented grin. "I've been a carpenter all my life, my father was a carpenter and my grandfather was a carpenter."

I had been told he'd taught three generations. He clarifies: "I didn't teach all three, to be fair. I went to block course myself with a John Lawton, then his son, Noel, came through, and then Noel's son came through. And the Lawtons actually built the original Carrington Technical Institute. Then it graduated to Carrington Polytech and then to Unitec. I was here for 17 months before Keith Holyoake opened the place."

As he details the types of courses he tutors, I ask him to explain his CAT acronym, "That's Certificate of Applied Technology, but I'm mainly involved with the DAT course. That's the Diploma of Applied Technology."

Saws and sanders buzz in the background, with workshop regulars asking what we're doing. "We're here to do a story on Earl," I say. "Great," they reply, "he's a good man."

For 30 years he's commuted from the North Shore to teach at Mt Albert. He left Mt Roskill Grammar at 15 to do his apprenticeship. "I never had much of a choice as far as being a carpenter was concerned. My father said, 'Oh, you're starting with Horry Goodwin the Monday after you knock off from school.'."

Fifty five years later, Earl still works five days a week and says he's not tired. "Usually, when I get home, I walk the dog and do a bit in the garden if the weather is alright."

He married Linda in 1963 and they have three children. Once married, he worked pretty hard to earn enough money to buy a section. "Less than a year's work for a carpenter back then, which isn't the case these days."

He built his first house in Pakuranga, which is still there. No leaky building, then, I say. "No, no," he assures me. "I wouldn't think so," he adds, quiet and certain.

When I hand him over to our photographer he is briefly self-conscious; "I better pull my pants up," he says. His workshop saw doctor joins us and jokes that Earl is also known as the Earl of Glenfield. Earl just laughs, flashing me a smile that says take no notice of that.

Chipping on

A Unitec spokesperson says Earl Johnson is a standout tutor for his personality,
professionalism - and his age. "Not many lecturers go past 65 around here.''