Tupua Fred Wetzell

Last updated

Tupua Friedrich Wilhelm Wetzell O.S. (13 May 1933 - 21 December 2016) [1] was a Samoan businessman and philanthropist.

Wetsell was born in Moto’otua in Apia to a German-Samoan father and a Tongan-English mother. [2] He was educated at Apia Primary School in Samoa, and then at Porongahao Secondary School and Napier Boys' High School in New Zealand. [3] After completing an apprenticeship, he worked as a motor mechanic in Auckland before returning to Samoa where he ran a farm and a coconut plantation and worked as a scrap-metal merchant. [3] In 1964 he returned to New Zealand, where he established a service station, before returning permanently to Samoa in 1971. [1]

After failing to establish a resort at Lake Lanoto'o, in 1973 he founded Apia Concrete Products. [1] In 1986 he established a plantation and a bottled water company. [4] In 1996 he was appointed a director of the Sinalei Reef Resort. [4] In 1997 he was named Japan's Honorary Consul-General to Samoa. [3] From 2001 to 2006 he served on the board of Samoa Polytechnic. [4] From 2007 to 2011 he served on the council of the National University of Samoa. [4] Throughout his life he sponsored various sports teams and charities, including the Samoa International Game Fishing Association, Samoa Squash Rackets Association, Little Sisters’ of the Poor, and the Carmelite Sisters’ Monasteries of Samoa, Wallis & Futuna and Tonga. [4]

Honours and awards

Wetzell was granted the chiefly title of Tupua by his village for his philanthropic works. [2] In 2013 he was conferred with the Order of the Rising Sun, with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon, for his "ignificant contribution to the promotion of mutual understanding, and friendly relations between Japan and Samoa". [3]

In the 2014 Samoa Honours and Awards he was made a Companion of the Order of Samoa. [5]

The Tupua Fred Wetzell Championship Cup for the Vailima Marist rugby sevens tournament is named in his honour. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

Samoa Polynesian island country

Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ; two smaller, inhabited islands ; and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands. Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa, 889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga, 1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji, 483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna, 1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu, 519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau, 4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii, and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.

History of Samoa History of the islands of Samoa

The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion. Both Samoa's early history and its more recent history are strongly connected to the histories of Tonga and Fiji, nearby islands with which Samoa has long had genealogical links as well as shared cultural traditions.

Apia Capital of Samoa

Apia is the capital of Samoa, and its only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.

Upolu Island in Samoa

Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is 75 kilometres long and 1,125 square kilometres in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the southeast of Savai'i, the "big island". Apia, the capital, is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport is at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago.

Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II 1st Prime Minister of Western Samoa

Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II was a Western Samoan paramount chief and politician. The holder of the Mataʻafa title, one of the four main Samoan chieftainships, he became the first prime minister of Western Samoa in 1959, serving until 1970. He held the position again from 1973 until his death in 1975.

Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole Samoan politician

Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole was a Western Samoan paramount chief. He held the royal title of Tupua Tamasese from 1929 to 1963, and O le Ao o le Malo jointly with Malietoa Tanumafili II from 1962 until his death the following year.

Districts of Samoa Overview of the districts of Samoa

Samoa is made up of eleven itūmālō. These are the traditional eleven districts that were established well before European arrival. Each district has its own constitutional foundation (faavae) based on the traditional order of title precedence found in each district's faalupega.

Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi Former O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa, 3rd Prime Minister of Samoa

Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi is a Samoan political leader and as holder of the maximal lineage Tama-a-'āiga title of Tupua Tamasese, is one of the four paramount chiefs of Samoa. He also holds the royal pāpā title of Tui Atua.

Olaf Frederick Nelson Samoan politician

Ta'isi Olaf Frederick Nelson was a Samoan businessman and politician. He was one of the founding leaders of the anti-colonial Mau movement.

Tuiloma Pule Alaimoana Unasa Lameko Gae’e was a Samoan politician and Cabinet Minister. He was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.

Falefa Place in Atua, Samoa

Falefā is located on the north eastern coast of Upolu island in Samoa. It was the ancient capital during the ‘Malo’ (‘government’) of Tupu Tafa'ifa (King) Fonoti. After having defeated his siblings Va'afusuaga and Samalaulu for control of Samoa, King Fonoti chose to rule from his new seat in Falefa, an honour remembered in its faalupega to this day.

Samoan literature can be divided into oral and written literatures, in the Samoan language and in English or English translation, and is from the Samoa Islands of independent Samoa and American Samoa, and Samoan writers in diaspora. Samoan as a written language emerged after 1830 when Tahitian and English missionaries from the London Missionary Society, working with Samoan chiefly orators, developed a Latin script based Samoan written language. Before this, there were logologo and tatau but no phonetic written form.

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III Samoan independence leader

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III was a paramount chief of Samoa, holder of the Tupua Tamasese dynastic title and became the leader of the country's pro-independence Mau movement from early 1928 until his assassination by New Zealand police in 1929. Inspired by his Christian beliefs, traditional customs and culture of Samoa, Lealofi III became one of the first leaders of the 20th century to employ nonviolent resistance against colonial rule which laid the foundations for Samoa's successful campaign for independence, which it attained in 1962.

Western Samoa Trust Territory Western Samoa between 1920 and 1962

Western Samoa Mandate, then Western Samoa Trust Territory, officially Territory of Western Samoa was the name of Western Samoa during its civil administration by New Zealand between 1920 and Samoan independence in 1962. Six years earlier, German Samoa was captured by the British shortly after the outbreak of World War I, but it would not be formally annexed by the British Empire until then.

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV 2nd Prime Minister of Western Samoa

Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV was the second prime minister of Samoa from 25 February 1970 to 20 March 1973 and again from 21 May 1975 to 24 March 1976. He held the title of Tupua Tamasese, one of the four main chiefly titles of Samoa from 1965 until his death in 1983.

Fred Betham Samoan politician

Gustav Frederick Dertag Betham, also known by the Samoan name Fereti Misipita, was a Western Samoan politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1971 and as Minister of Finance from 1961 to 1970. In 1971 he was appointed Secretary General of the South Pacific Commission, a role he held for four years.

Pakistan–Samoa relations Bilateral relations

Pakistan–Samoa relations are the bilateral relations that exist between Pakistan and Samoa. Pakistan's High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand, is concurrently accredited to Samoa. Pakistan also has an honorary consul in Apia.

AfiogaTuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio is a Samoan politician, lawyer and Cabinet Minister who has served as the deputy prime minister of Samoa since 2021. Elected to parliament as an independent in the 2021 election, he later joined the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party.

The 2014 Samoa Honours and Awards were appointments made by the O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, to various Orders, decorations, and medals of Samoa under the Honours and Awards Act 1999. The investiture ceremony was held on 22 December 2014.

Hans Edward KruseOS was a Samoan civil servant, actor, and rugby player.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lanuola Tupufia – Ah Tong (23 December 2016). "Nation mourns lovable Tupua". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 Cook, Kasia Renae (2017). Sauerkraut and Salt Water: The German-Tongan Diaspora Since 1932 (PDF) (PhD). University of Auckland. p. 148-149. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa (25 December 2016). "Our Christmas tribute to Fred, who confessed: "Mum, I left my heart in Samoa."". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tupua Fred Wetzell's life". Samoa Observer. 25 December 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  5. "Honours conferred". Samoa Observer. 22 December 2014.
  6. "Sixteen Men's teams sign up for Samoa's Vailima Marist 7s". Loop Samoa. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  7. Thomas Airey (2 February 2019). "Marist Sevens to feature growing women's tournament, Tupua Fred Wetzell Cup for men". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 15 July 2022.