Cancer claims youth saviour 'Ma Betty'

Betty Wark, better known as "Ma Betty" to thousands of youngsters she cared for at her Auckland hostels and open homes, has died, aged 77.

She passed away peacefully early yesterday, at the Ngati Arohanui Trust home she ran in Ponsonby, after a long battle with cancer.

Mrs Wark, described by family and friends as a "spiritual mother to thousands of kids and adults," began running a hostel for Maori and Pacific Island boys in the 1960s, and the Arohanui homes for rehabilitation of the young were set up in 1973.