Everyday Was Valentine’s Day For Late Harm Nam

Every day was Christmas with Arthur Harm Nam, his wife Ursula Harm Nam said.

And every day was Valentine’s Day for him, the widow of the late and legendary butcher said yesterday.

“On his birthdays, he would say – ‘every day is my birthday; when I awake, I see the sun shining, I know it’s my birthday,” his granddaughter Caitlin Harm Nam said.

Valentine’s Day was no different, Mrs Harm Nam said.

“His typical response, when asked what he would get for me for Valentine’s Day, was ‘I give her everything from the heart, every day’,” she said .

The couple were married for 56 years, about the same length of time Mr Harm Nam worked at his favourite Flagstaff store.

During the early stages of their courtship, Mr Harm Nam’s idea of swaying Ursula was to take her for long drives to the family commercial farm at Galoa.

A second generation descendant of the Harm Nam’s that settled in Fiji, Art, as his wife liked to call him, was witty, happy, and a man of few words.

“He took any opportunity to crack a joke,” Caitlin said.

“You could use every word in the world, and it wouldn’t be enough to describe him.”

He died at the age of 83, after a long battle against diabetes.

But it may have been the drawback of the COVID-19 pandemic that had the most impact on his life.

For 55 years, his daily routine was to open the doors of his Wahleys Flagstaff shop at 7:30am, and close it at around 7pm.

“That was his favourite shop,” Mrs Harm Nam said yesterday.

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Mr Harm Nam was compelled to cut back on his daily routine of being at the Flagstaff store.

“He still missed being at the shop,” Mrs Harm Nam said.

“He wanted to be at the shop.”

Retirement was not an option for a man who enjoyed customer service.

“He was quietly observant,” Mrs Harm Nam said.

Their relationship as a married couple was like clockwork.

“We hardly spoke; it was a silent understanding; we knew our roles,” she said.

“There was no serious conversation and nothing to fight over.

“I would get so angry because he would just clam up for no apparent reason.”

But with his family’s best interest at heart, Mr Harm Nam would always be the first to apologise if he knew he was out of line, his granddaughter said.

“He wanted everyone to be happy.”

Family Background

Mr Harm Nam was born the same year Wahley’s Butcher was established – 1939.

He was the sixth youngest of his seven siblings.

In his formative years, he joined his seven siblings in collecting food scraps from the Suva municipal market to transport to the family’s farm for animal fodder.

He worked on the farm at a young age, after he completed his education at Fiji Chinese School – which at the time was located where the Fijian Holdings headquarters now stands.

“He lived and breathed retailing,” Caitlin said.

“He loved being around customers, and he loved to yarn.

“His personal touch was to engage as many of them in conversations at his shop.

“Every customer that entered the store was to be treated like family – that was his way.”

His one wish for the company was for his children to continue in full steam upon his passing.

“He and his siblings worked hard for the life that we now have,” Mrs Harm Nam, said.

The couple lost one of their two children.

Mr Harm Nam is survived by his son Gary, five grandchildren, and eldest sister Annie.

A thanksgiving mass will be accorded on July 11, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva, before the cortege leaves for his fa ily home in Nabua, and on to the Suva Chinese Cemetery at Reservoir Road for an 11am burial.

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