A 75-year-old great-grandmother with a "young heart" was killed when her car crossed the centre line near Tokoroa and crashed head-on with a truck on her way home from a badminton tournament.
Maria (June) Maitland, grandmother of New Zealand-born Scotland rugby player Sean Maitland, died on Saturday about 1.50pm on State Highway 1 at Litchfield, returning from a week-long tournament in Hamilton.
Mrs Maitland's son, John, said the news was a shock to her three children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
His son Sean, who lived in Glasgow, was devastated by "losing his Nan", but was unable to come home for the funeral as he had just entered a Scotland training camp.