Wife of 38 years, ‘Ans', has never seen Gerry's upper lip. Never, ever. All of her married life she's had to kiss a moustache.
It's a fine moustache though – of Magnum PI, Tom Selleck-ish, proportions. Thick, bushy and walrus-like.
And the five Weber kids, the oldest 36, have never ever seen their father clean shaven. Never. Because for nearly four decades the face of Gerardus Johannes Maria Weber, or Gerry, has been concealed behind extraneous hair, behind the big black beard and moustache – which is now a big grey beard and moustache.
He's proliferous but groomed. He wears it well.
'All our childhood photographs and then all our family photographs, there was always whiskers,” says Maria, the youngest of the Weber brood.
'Now finally, finally, I will see that beard off.”
But it's taken nearly four decades and a family crisis to reach this point.
'My grandson Xander ended up in hospital after an accident.” There were no broken bones but the doctor thought Xander looked pale and did some blood tests. 'Leukaemia,” says Gerry. 'I was shocked, devastated. We all were, of course.”
And while the family dealt with the gravity of the situation, the doctors did more tests.
'It was treatable,” says Gerry. 'We were lucky because, as we know, leukaemia can be a killer.” Xander is apparently a 'tough little guy”, has endured several rounds of chemotherapy and sports a tracheotomy and port-a-cath. He's in remission but will continue treatment for the next two-and-a-half years.
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He's also smiling and boasting a jar of beads – the badges of honour or courage awarded every time he has a medical procedure. 'He's smiling until he sees the chemo gear being rolled in,” says Maria. 'He knows what that's about.”
'Now it's time for this family to give back,” says Gerardus Johannes Maria Weber, the brush salesman know to everyone between Whakatane, Tokoroa, Rotorua, Tirau and Waihi as Gerry.
'And I have always said if the occasion is important enough, the beard comes off.” And this is a life and death situation, so it's off. The beard grown on a honeymoon 38 years ago is coming off. 'I'm a wee bit nervous,” says Gerry. ”I don't know what's under there. It might be horrible.”
So this Sunday morning, April 2, at 11am at the Edgewater Fan on the Tauranga Waterfront a barber will publicly remove the brush from the brush man. A man having a shave will become an occasion, a public event.
And on the back of it the Gerry will give back to the Child Cancer Foundation. 'They've been outstandingly supportive and helpful.”
The Weber family has set up a page on the Child Cancer Foundation website where donations can be made, so the foundation can do its good work, assist other families and other little Xanders.
The fund is still running. See: https://taurangalakesandbaysevents.everydayhero.com/nz/the-beard
'We raised $3000 in just 48 hours,” says Gerry. And late this week it was running at about $4800.
Gerardus Johannes Maria Weber's face also tells another story. If the beard has been there for 38 years the moustache has been there forever – at least 47 years.
'When I was in the third form at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College, the deputy principal Mr Pointon told me to shave my upper lip. I was a rebel and never did.” So the upper lip has never been harvested. Never seen a razor.
On the strength of that story, someone might pay for the honour of removing that moustache.
And when it's off, will it stay off? The Child Cancer Foundation stands to gain from it staying off for four months. The clean shave look will be sponsored.
Then it's bound to come because a beard is always a work in progress – any man can start a beard, but a true man never finishes one.