Remembering Aunty Leigh Taiwhati

Aunty Leigh (in red) at one of our advisory group meetings

Te Patikitiki Library in Highbury, May 2019.

E Tōku Hoa! Ko koe te rā nui o ngā rangi o Tōku tapu, kaua e tukua mā te paru o te ao tō miharo
e huna. Rukea ki rahaki te ārai o arongakore, kia puta mārama mai ai koe i ngā kapua, ka kākahuria
ai e koe mgā mea katoa ki te korowai o te ora. - Ngā Kupu Huna o Baha’u’llah

Aunty Ilene (Leigh) Taiwhati passed away this week. She was a member of many community groups in
Highbury and our CCA advisory group was very lucky to be one of them. The enthusiasm and generous
energy that she brought to the group will be sadly missed. She played a key role in documenting and
recording the ideas of the group and contributed ideas that were grounded in the depth of her experiences.

I met Leigh towards the end of last year when my friend Tessa recommended I talk to her about our CCA
project in Highbury. We met at Te Patikitiki library and found a quiet corner where she happily shared
stories with me about Highburians she’s known and loved over the years. She had been collecting stories
from local kaumātua and also writing down her own experiences of growing up in Highbury in Ellesmere
Crescent, opposite Saint Micheals.

Leigh saw Highbury as a resource rich community where people help and support each other generously.
It wasn’t until she got older and became a teenager that she grew aware of how the suburb was viewed by
others in the wider Palmerston North area. For Leigh, collecting people’s stories and documenting the
many positive initiatives happening in Highbury was her way of reminding Highburians and letting others
know about the abundance of gifts and talents in the community.

Because Leigh was so amazing at documenting her experiences we’re really fortunate to have access to
some of her ideas and knowledge through the Highbury Hub. She told me that because she didn’t have
children she wanted anything that she left behind - any memory - to say that she came from Highbury,
that she was a part of this community. Leigh mentioned how she often remembered herself as a little girl
sitting on the front porch of their house in Ellesmere Crescent imagining other horizons. She wanted to
help extend the horizons of kids like her by giving them information and examples of Highburians who
have done great things. I hope that in the capacity of our advisory group we can contribute to and include
Leigh’s visions within our efforts.
Moe mai rā -

Terri

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