Dr James Bentley Corbin was born on 2nd February, 1934 in Chatswood, Sydney the first child to James and Ruth Corbin. He was named after his father and great grandfather before him and so he was the third in the family to hold this name in Australia. James had four younger siblings – three brothers and a sister – Vincent, Eric, Michael and Ruth. James went to primary school at St. Bernard’s, Botany and thence to St Therese’s school in Mascot (when it was built) close to the pharmacy his father owned and operated in Maloney Street, Eastlakes.

The Second World War broke out when James was 5 years old. He recounted as an adult how frightened everyone was that Sydney would be bombed like Darwin had been in 1942. He talked about the shock everyone felt when later that same year the three Japanese midget submarines came right into the harbour but failed to destroy any of the battleships such as the USS Chicago docked at the time. He remembers being a child of only 8 years old helping his father to dig a bomb shelter in the backyard of their home. It would have been a frightening time for such a young child and what a relief it must have been when the war ended and he was 11 years old.

He was a good student and also quite good at athletics. He enjoyed rugby league as a South Sydney, “Rabbitohs” supporter. He went on and completed high school at Lewisham Christian Brothers where he matriculated with top marks – straight ‘A’s” in all subjects except science where he scored a “B”. James had an Uncle Eric who was a Catholic Priest who he admired and he too thought he had a calling to be a priest so he joined a Redemptorist seminary for a while before finally deciding to take a different path. From there James went on to study a Bachelor Degree of Agricultural Science at Sydney University where once again he did very well. After a short stint as a high school teacher in Telopea, Canberra, James went back to do a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science where he submitted a thesis on treatments for fungus in stone fruits. During this time he used his keen interest in photography to document Sydney at the time and the many places including the Australian outback that he visited. He made films of the steam ships on the Sydney harbour before the Opera House was built at circular quay and took pictures of old Parliament House in Canberra before Lake Burley Griffith was created.

Jim (as he was known then) was married on 21st November, 1964 to his first wife, Margaret Robinson who he met in Papua New Guinea where he was working as a missionary. Margaret was working as a nurse in the Highlands village of Mount Hagen. Sadly just before they were married James’ father died from heart attack in 1964 at the age of only 59 years old. James and his new wife travelled to California, USA soon after they were married in Melbourne. He began studies for a doctorate in plant pathology at the University of California, Davis Campus in late 1964. His thesis on epidemiology and stone fruits was submitted in 1967. While in the USA, Jim and Margaret were based in Sacramento and they travelled extensively throughout the country. They had their first two children a son and a daughter in USA. At the completion of his studies, James was offered academic positions in Florida and New Zealand.

In 1969 after the birth of his third child, Jacinta in Melbourne, he moved his growing family to the “Land of the Long White Cloud,” to take up a role at Auckland University teaching students and overseeing more research in plant pathology. His colleagues described him as a brilliant researcher. He supervised many students from around the world who came to study with him. He enjoyed getting to know their cultures and often invited them to come to his home and meet his family. Perhaps this was because he identified with what it was like to live away from his family and the country of birth.

He bought a block of land and designed and built a house with his wife in the developing suburb of Henderson. They moved in at the end of 1972 and became very active in the catholic community at Holy Cross Church. He served terms on both the parish and diocesan councils and initially as a side interest he began selling catholic books, medals and statues because he found them very hard to get in Auckland. Ultimately this led to him establishing “Catholic Displays” a piety shop in Onehunga in an old, disused and somewhat run down cinema on the main street.

Jim and Margaret had five children – James, Teresa, Jacinta, Joseph and Katrina. Katrina and Joseph were born in New Zealand. They attended Holy Cross Primary School, Liston College Christian Brothers and St. Dominic’s. He loved to bushwalk in the Waitakeri Ranges and due to his interest in botany grew to know the New Zealand flora and fauna very well. He would take his children hunting for native mushrooms to add to his specimen collection. He took his family camping every year to the Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula where he enjoyed collecting shellfish (‘Pipis”) and visiting Hot Water Beach. Jim was renowned for his garden filled with Australian Eucalypts, fruit trees and an enormous vegetable patch which the entire family helped him take care of.

In 1970 James continued to work at the University and do his catholic sales on the weekends. He advised mushroom farmers, stone fruit orchardists and produce growers all over the North Island. His scientific mind was always ready for another puzzle so and he worked on issues with bacteria causing problems at the Waitomo Caves with the glow worms. When his daughter developed asthma in the late seventies, he began some of the first work in the world studying mould spores in houses. He would never complete this ground breaking study.

He travelled internationally to academic conferences and he would use some of these trips to find new suppliers for his catholic business. He was shipping large statues, crosses and other religious artefacts from across the world to supply churches, monasteries and convents in New Zealand. On one of these trips he visited Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal both places where apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been reported. He attended the famous open-air Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany. On this same trip he also travelled to the Vatican in 1978. He was in St Peter’s Square when the ballots were burned and the white smoke was seen coming from the Sistine Chapel indicating the election of a new Pope. He was in the crowds outside St Peter’s Basilica when Pope John Paul II was inaugurated and he attended an audience to get a blessing from the new Pope. These were very special events in his life.

Unfortunately in 1981 he had to retire from his Senior Lecturer role at the University. He spent an extended time in hospital and receiving treatment. Unfortunately his marriage with Margaret came to an end and she returned to Melbourne, Australia with their five children. These were very difficult and painful years for the entire family and his wife remained estranged and their marriage was annulled some years later.

He visited Australia several times (including in 1985, 1990, 1992, 1999 and 2002) but he never returned there despite often saying he would like to come home. He also clearly loved his adopted country and often said that life was better in New Zealand. One of his visits was to be at his mother’s funeral and farewell her when she died in 1990 at the age of 84 years old. He attended his second son’s wedding in 1999 and on another trip in 2002 he attended the wedding of his eldest daughter and gave her away.

James gradually rebuilt his life and he became strongly connected to the Tongan community in Southern Auckland. He married Lucia Leger in February, 1995 and became a stepfather to her young daughter, Tina who they then raised together. Sadly Lucia passed away in 2003 very suddenly after a heart attack while she was away in the USA on a holiday.

On 28th July, 2004 James moved to St Joseph’s Little Sisters after collapsing at home several times due to bad balance and ongoing issues with his digestive systems. He developed a shuffling gait using a rollator to walk prior to becoming completely unable to walk. He has a severe Parkinson’s like tremor of his hands which has prevented him from writing for many years now. He ran a mailing list for the Soul Magazine for many years for the World Apostolate of Fatima (formerly The Blue Army) and has been the custodian of a very important Fatima Statue blessed by the Pope in 1967 and brought to NZ in 1973 with 200 Fatima Pilgrims. The statute has been all over NZ travelling from place to place and house to house very extensively in 1992 on the 75th Anniversary organised by James. This is recorded in documents by James which will be passed on the John Paul II Centre for Life in Mt Roskill, Auckland.

Over the time he has been at St. Joseph’s home he has come to be known as a man of deep faithspending many hours in the Chapel for Mass, Rosary and Prayers. James is a Third Order at the Carmelites’ in Bombay, Auckland known as Br. Corbinian. His beneficiaries in recent years have included: World Vision, The Bible Society and many more.

He has continued his interests like reading, listening to music – such as Gregorian Chants and country and western concerts. He speaks Latin, loves listening to current affairs on the radio and watching television especially sport such as rugby league, the tennis and the swimming. He has become a supporter of the Auckland team the “Warriors,” perhaps as a gesture to his adopted country and just how much he really felt at home in New Zealand after over 45 years living in there.

He said he was very happy living at St. Joseph’s home and he told his family that the Little Sisters took good care of him. It was very hard for his children living in Australia to visit him due to the cost of travelling and getting time away from work and their own families. Despite this hurdle over the years he had visits from all his children and met all but one (Margaret born earlier this year) of his 14 grandchildren living in Australia. Many of his family wrote to him and spoke on the phone. He also stayed in touch with his siblings – sadly his younger brother Eric and his younger sister Ruth have already passed away.

James has had visits from his step daughter Tina and his granddaughter, Lusia who were spending a lot of time in Tonga but still living in Auckland. James has a strong connection to the charity Family Life International. The FLI National Director, Colleen Bayer and her family and staff have provided much support for James over many years and are assisting James and his son during this time of sickness.

On 2nd November 2015 James was rushed to Auckland hospital after he aspirated. He developed pneumonia and after being treated with antibiotics and a feeder tube, he was still struggling to swallow. After just over 4 weeks in hospital he has been moved back to St. Joseph’s for palliative care. In recent weeks has been visited by five of his children (James, Teresa, Joseph, Katrina and Tina) and two of his grandchildren (Sinead and Lusia) and his brother Vincent who is 80yrs old and came to Auckland on his first international flight to see him with his daughter Melita. Last week he told his sons and brother it was wonderful to have had his family there. His younger son Joseph has been by his side through most of this time and much of his final requests related to family.