Puckey lived his life as an honest, humane, and sincere man with considerable integrity; he maintained strong connections with the church and with the purpose of converting Māori to Christianity and translating the Gospel so that Māori could understand it. Even into his later years when he was bedridden and hard of hearing, he still maintained time to give a ‘nugget’ of wisdom to a young Māori that might happen to come by. Acts like these earned him the respect of Nga Puhi chiefs, such as Paerata and Pana-kareao.