"It dawned on me what they were saying needed to be recorded so I asked them if I could," Denz said. "I got an unequivocal no."
Believing New Zealand's recorded history to be largely about war and politics as opposed to a woman's life, Denz said the idea of documenting a woman's autobiography stayed with her.
The opportunity presented itself years later when, as part of a university research group, Denz was tasked to introduce a concept and fit it into her own teaching model.
"The idea of recording the lives of others was still sitting in the back of my mind and I hauled it out. Initially it was to be seven women but, as always happens, life throws up other ideas and men were eventually included.
"When I started gathering these stories it was with the intent of writing an academic paper, probably based around factors such as the independence of our children in times past having led to their ability to grow and develop in the rapidly changing world."
Not knowing what she was going to get, Denz kept her guidelines for the seven people to a minimum to enable everyone to write their autobiography around what they considered important to them and in a format, they were comfortable with.
"My selection of participants was random, with age and the ability to write being the key elements. They also had to be successful in their field."
Denz described what she received from the seven people as "amazing", and rather than having change forced upon them, they each forced change.
"Hence The Change Makers. Each of the seven share personal stories that, in some cases, they have never even told their children."
Only one of the seven wanted to remain anonymous, and Denz said she was happy to agree to that.
"What surprises me is the number of similarities in experience between people. Why I should be surprised I don't really know, as many of their experiences were normal at the time. But we do of course personalise what happens to us, and not see it in the larger societal context."
She also found the generation to be the metaphor of the number 8 fencing wire. "We made do with what we had and used the resources that were available," Denz said.
Another was the refusal to become "victims".
"The book also highlights that each writer used tools that were learned between the ages of 4 to 7 to deal with change."
Denz said once The Change Makers was put to bed, she would take a more analytical look at the stories rather than her current emotional response.
The Change Makers can be bought by contacting Denz at fdenz@stellaris.co.nz.
The seven Change Makers:
Gwenyth Wright
Nina Payne
Richard Prebble
Jim Pringle
Frances Denz
Antoinette Hubbard
"Edward"
