World War II Prisoner of War and former Cowra teacher Paul Couvret has died last month aged 91.
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Paul Couvret, who taught locally before moving to Sydney's north in 1966, is remembered as a respected teacher and active Apex member who helped build the Cowra Co-operative Ski Lodge.
Mr Couvret later served as a councillor at Warringah from 1973 to 1995, and was shire president from 1979 to 1983.
Born in Batavia of Dutch parents, he enlisted as a young man in the Netherlands' navy as World War II progressed and in 1942 was captured and incarcerated at Nagasaki POW camp.
In 1945 he witnessed the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb blast that destroyed the Japanese city, and wondered if he could hope for a long life.
After liberation he continued naval service as a pilot for the Netherlands and was posted to Rose Bay Flying Base, helping POWs evacuate from the East.
He arrived in Cowra as a physical education and art teacher, working in the town's Migrant Centre on Darby's Falls Road.
There he met his wife Hilja, an Estonian migrant, marrying her at Cowra Presbyterian Church.
They set up home in West Cowra and Mr Couvret began teaching at Cowra High School, where he was known by students as 'Furderback', a nickname derived from his Dutch pronunciation when telling children to move "further back".
Students remember him as a respected teacher, who instigated student snow trips to Thredbo.
With four small boys, Paul, Tom, Michael and Chris, he took his family camping on the Western Plains, going rabbiting and feral pig hunting.
Mr Couvret was a founding member of Cowra Apex in 1952, and remained an active member before he moved to Belrose at Sydney's Northern Beaches in 1966.
He returned to Cowra to visit, and in 2005 opened Europa Park.
As well as serving on Warringah Council, he was on the executive of the Local Government Association of NSW for eight years, and was president of the Netherlands Ex-servicemen and Women's Association in Australia.
In 1998 Mr Couvret was awarded an Order of Australia medal for service to local government, war veterans and the community, and in 2011 he was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the highest honour in the Dutch order of chivalry.