R.I.P. Don Stracy

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Don Stracy on 29 December 2025. Ross Jackson writes:

Don is remembered with great affection by his long-standing friends at Wellington Chess Club. Don was a solid chess player, intensely foccussed at the board, and after, win or lose, always very gracious at the end of a game.

Don’s journey in chess began when a school-friend taught him the rules on a bench seat at St Albans Grammar School in England during World War 2. The story was told to me by Don and Muriel. Don was raised in Hastings which is a coastal town in Sussex. Hastings was on the flightpath of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War and it was also feared a German land invasion would occur. So the town children were all evacuated from their homes and moved to St Alban’s north of London. Even there it was still not totally safe. Don had seen German bombers flying overhead and at one time he and schoolfriends went to examine the crater caused by an exploded bomb. Many years later Don and Muriel visited Hastings Grammar School and sat down to rest. Don had remarked, “Do you know it is 50 years to the day when I once sat on this bench and a schoolfriend taught me chess?” 

I was President of Wellington Chess Club for many years and was privileged to be told a bit about Don’s life from him and Muriel. For the benefit of chess-players who only knew him for his chess opening repertoire I digress to provide a short biography.

Don was born in London but raised in Hastings. He was an only child. His father was a World War 1 invalid who had suffered frostbite and dysentery while serving in Gallipoli and Europe. He served in the London Regiment fighting alongside the New Zealanders at Gallipoli including at Chunuk Bair. The dysentery had damaged his intestines. Unfortunately his father’s disability was never imbursed with a war pension that should have been his due. It is believed a clerical mix-up had him as recorded as killed and despite years of effort, including letters to the British Parliament, they could not rectify it with the bureaucracy to prove him alive for the purpose of a pension.

Don trained to be an accountant. He lived and worked in London for 3 years but the daily commute from Hastings to London was too much and so he decided to emigrate for a better life in New Zealand. As an only child he felt guilty about leaving. When he told his parents he was emigrating to New Zealand his father had said “be careful – they are all giants there!” 

Don worked in treasury for 34 years. Initially he worked in accounts., then as an economist working on expenditure proposals for government departments. As Don once explained to me, New Zealand had a fixed exchange rate and so was always bankrupt having to borrow money to stay afloat. At one stage he was sent to Washington to work for 4 years.

Don met Muriel at a tramping club. From there they developed an avid interest in bird watching. They were not good on boats and so restricted themselves to the land and shore birds. A favourite visit was to Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre on the Firth of Thames which is world renowned for bird watchers due to the migrations. They have seen 170 different New Zealand land bird species. They have also travelled bird watching in Australia, Fiji, Singapore and America. In Australia they have seen 599 different species, a number easily remembered as it is one shy of being a member of the 600 club of Australian birdwatchers.  Apparently they would have had to travel to a remote part to reach 600. 

Don was introduced to a chess club in New Zealand by a flatmate, Peter Ross. He joined Wellington and Civic chess clubs in 1960. When he married Muriel, he stopped attending Wellington Chess Club as they met on Saturday whereas Civic met on Tuesday. He also ran Tawa Chess Club. Tawa Chess Club provided an opportunity for a young schoolboy, Russell Dive, to join. Russell went on to become an International Chess Master, New Zealand Chess Champion or co-Champion seven times, and is now President of Wellington Chess Club.

Don remained enthusiastic and regular in chess until he could no longer participate. On 10th December 2020 he played Blitz speed chess at the Wellington Chess Club against the quick minds of the youngsters. He was 91 years old on 11/12/2020. He was a regular competitor at Wellington Easter Chess tournaments. During my Presidency of Wellington Chess Club, Don was also one of the more reliable participants at the club Annual General Meetings. He frequently proposed remits to improve the efficiency of club tournaments. Muriel informed me that even when Don was in care with severe impairment of his memory he did play a game of chess, likely his last, with the visiting husband of a woman who was also there with dementia.

It was a privilege to have known Don these many years. His loss is felt by all the older members of the club – he was a wonderful man.