Henry Hugh Blackwell, known as Hugh, was our loved grandfather. He was a director of Blackwell's Department Store in Kaiapoi, North Canterbury, for 51 years. During the war years, his father Joseph Henry Blackwell and his mother, Margaret Leithead Blackwell served as mayor and mayoress of Kaiapoi. Hugh borrowed 100 pounds from his father to learn to fly at Walsh brothers' flying school, Mission Bay, Auckland. Once accepted for training in the Royal Flying Corps(RFC) this money was refunded. In the last months of the war he flew missions over the front line in France and Germany carrying an observer who photographed troop movements. The photos were developed upon landing and used to inform strategic movements of troops. In 1922 Hugh married Jean Kathleen Caughey of Auckland known as Molly. They settled in Kaiapoi and had three children, Shirley, David and Helen.