A lifelong love affair with Kaitaia

Bryce Quarrie no doubt spoke for everyone when he told those who gathered to farewell Dorothy (Dot) Wild that she seemed to have been in Kaitaia forever. In fact she had been resident for "only" 71 years, but what an action-packed seven decades it was. And she was a true Northlander.

The second of five children, she was born at Kawakawa but began her schooling at Taupaki, near Kumeu. Her last year of school was spent, in her words, "paddling around doing teacher aide work until I got old enough to enter training college."

While training, in Wellington, she also took some classes at university. One September day in 1939, someone entered her lecture theatre to announce the outbreak of war. A deathly hush descended, and the rest of the day's classes were suspended.

Dot never forgot that day, and how she walked through Wellington's streets back to her digs. There were buses and trams, but most young people thought nothing of walking a mile or three, thereby saving pennies.

She spent her probationary year as a Primer 2 teacher in Parnell, and when she applied for and was accepted for a permanent position she had to get a map to find where Kaitaia was. It was a long journey by rail and road, but as she rode the bus through Victoria Valley and saw the lush farmland and trees she took a shine to her new home, a first opinion that never changed.

On her first morning in Kaitaia she walked up to Church Road to the school, which then catered for new entrants to Form 6. As she had had some university education she became a high school teacher, who, like primary teachers, taught everything - English, written French, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, geography, history, general science, physical education, and for the girls home science and sewing.

Some of her pupils went on to make names for themselves, like Fred Matich, successful in the engineering field in Canada, Robert Richards, a doctor in Alabama, Earl Reid, long Kaitaia's Town Clerk, and renowned Kaitaia teacher Faye Irwin.

Dot joined Eric Hansen's signalling classes. In the evenings they would go out in their greatcoats and sit on hilltops, flashing lights in morse code at other groups on hills. It was a bit like the game of Chinese whispers, the original message often having little if any resemblance to the last.

Waipapakauri was an important part of New Zealand's war, and although the local girls went to the dances and social functions Dot never dated the soldiers. She was proud to be Gordon Wild's girl, and in 1945 they were married.

From Gordon's parents they bought a couple of hundred acres at the end of Lake Road, starting with 60 cows then increasing the herd to 85.

Peter, then Ian, then Evelyn were born, and Dot used to walk the length of Lake Road to town pushing the Plunket-style cane pram they bought second-hand from Muriel Morton. Gordon drove a black Morris car but never found the time to teach Dot to drive, so she watched how he did it, then one day she got in the car, backed it out of its corrugated shed and drove down the road to where Gordon was working.

From that day on nothing held her back. She could now join fully in the life of the district.

The Scottish Society was big in the 1950s, Dot singing to Marion Clark's accompaniment on the piano. Then there were Plunket, the PTA, the tennis club, garden club, the Council of Social Services, the Samaritans, the United Council of Women, WDFF and more.

She was proudest though of her four terms as a Kaitaia Borough councillor, of being one of those responsible for putting footpaths on at least one side of most of the town's streets, and of having the town's water fluoridated.

Dot insisted that Kaitaia keep its library when some councillors wanted to get rid of it. She and a few others actually ran it themselves for a time, and she also fought passionately for the building of the Far North Community Centre.

In 1981 Dot joined Grace Williams as a Justice of the Peace, and though not allowed to perform marriages she often sat in the local court and attended to many other duties.

Bryce's favourite tale of "our intrepid Dot" was of her running up the middle of Commerce Street, dodging traffic as she chased an errant piece of paper which she caught and put in the nearest bin.

Gordon died in 1985, leaving a huge hole in her life, but in typical Dot fashion she partly filled that hole by helping others, with travel, and keeping up her interests in things local. She could not remember ever hating anyone, and was more sorry for than angered by the likes of thieves, especially those who several times stole the flowers and vases from her husband's grave.

Dot was well named in that she was a tiny woman, but she carved a very big place for herself in Kaitaia and in the hearts of all who shared it with her. Everything she did was done with gusto; she was never a passenger. And perhaps it was her 12 years as a borough councillor that told most about her attributes.

Those were the days when women just didn't do that sort of thing, Bryce said. She was ahead of her time in that respect, a leader and role model for other women in the community. Stepping up like that took tremendous courage, particularly in a "pretty conservative" rural community like Kaitaia.

"The aspect of Dot I will always remember, apart from her impish humour and that chuckle, was that she was the most non-judgmental person I have ever met," he added.

"She always found and focused on the positive things about people. She never had a negative word about anyone (although I suspect she had hesitations about Oscar/Ian from time to time).

"Peter told me that John Walsh, who, sadly, is no longer with us, walked up to him in the main street one day some years ago, put his hand on his shoulder and said, 'Your mother likes people,' and walked off. But no people were more important to her than her kids, Peter, Ian and Evelyn.

"As Peter said to me he was astonished to realise in recent times just how involved in things Dot was - all the things she did, committees she was on, meetings she attended and

so on. What astonished him was how she was able to fit all of that in and still be the wonderful mother she was to her kids.

"She was a wonderful mother, and a hugely significant part of the history of our district."