Maraenui community worker and Hawke's Bay Today Person of the Year, Minnie Ratima has died.
Minnie was voted person of the Year in 2017 for service to her community.
It's understood she died on Sunday, with a tangi set down for Wednesday.
In 2017, friend Megan Rose, who has worked with Minnie on the community social front and who nominated her for the award, said, "She has overcome many of the hurdles that she encourages others to conquer, and she has walked a path few would choose but the pain of her own experiences is without bitterness."
Such experiences, Ms Rose said, were instead used to gently remind others that they too were capable of breaking the cycles that threatened to bind them to a predestined future.
"She takes children into her home to keep them safe and fights to find a place for them in education when they are considered too difficult to teach by the school system," Ms Rose said.
