Community Gem: Nan Kingston-Smith

Nan Kingston-Smith may not be a Rotarian but last month because of her selfless many good works over the decades she was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship Award - the highest honour handed out by the Rotary Club for services to the community.
The award is given to an individual who is said to have met "the high professional standards and personal standards" set by the club's founder Paul Percy Harris in 1905 - a club dedicated to "service above self".
Mrs Kingston-Smith, of the Avenues, received her special certificate and her gold pin at a Rotary Club of Otumoetai barbecue function last month.
"I feel very humbled to have been honoured in this way," she said. There is no doubt Wellington-born Mrs Kingston-Smith has given much to her community, both in her professional and personal life.
She trained as a primary school teacher in Wellington, and represented her home province at a senior level in hockey and cricket. After a year she transferred to secondary school teaching and took on the position of physical education teacher at Mana College.
It was there she first met her husband Warwick, a fellow teacher at the college. The couple moved to Tauranga in 1962 and the same year she took on the position of physical education teacher at Tauranga Girls' College and also became involved in all sorts of coaching, especially netball and athletics.
From 1965 she took time off to raise a family and in the late 1970s returned to her teaching position, a year later taking on the career adviser role.
When her children reached intermediate age she was elected to the Tauranga Intermediate school committee. During the same period she taught keep-fit classes for women.
In 1980 after further study she became fulltime guidance counsellor at the college - a role she held for 25 years until her retirement in 2005. In those early days she was also a sexual abuse counsellor for about five years.
After becoming involved in the New Zealand Association of Counsellors she also held the position of president for two years and was subsequently made a life member of the Association.
On her retirement, Mrs Kingston-Smith helped set up an Alumni Association for Tauranga Girls' College and although not an old girl herself she chaired the 50th Reunion Committee and also involved in organising other alumni functions.
After her retirement she was elected as a parents' representative on the Tauranga Girls' College Board of Trustees and is now in her second term.
"I believe in service to the community. This is way of putting something back into the school which has given me a lot over many years," she said.
Mrs Kingston-Smith is an active member of Tauranga Central Baptist Church and was elected deacon as a result of her involvement with the senior bible class and assuming responsibility for the Sunday School.
She's also served a term as president of the Bay of Plenty-Eastland Association of Baptist Churches.
Rotary Club of Otumoetai president Bruce Farthing said Mrs Kingston-Smith was chosen for the award as she was a tireless worker who has made a huge difference in the lives of "hundreds and hundreds" of young people in the Bay of Plenty.
GEMS WANTED
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