'Sunshine in human form': Hamilton crash victim who died close to her home

Lloyd Keung with his wife Lynette, who died after a crash in Temple View, Hamilton, on Wednesday. Photo / supplied

A Hamilton woman who died in a horrific crash just around the corner from her home was a much-loved member of her small community.

Lynette Keung was killed in a crash with a light truck on Wednesday afternoon, in the suburb of Temple View, about 2km from Hamilton.

She died at the scene, and another person was taken to Waikato Hospital with serious injuries.

The 72-year old had lived in the neighbourhood with her husband Lloyd Keung since 1971, when he began teaching at nearby Church College.

He was principal when the Mormon school, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, closed in 2009.

Keung's granddaughter Elisa Keung said Aunty Dolly, as Keung was affectionately known, was "sunshine in human form".

"I am so grateful to have had 18 years of memories with her by my side.

"I'm sure Aunty Dolly has left many of you with good memories, and I bet she's still singing and smiling in the next life."

Keung was born in Auckland to a Chinese father and Maori mother, but spent much of her childhood in Kaikohe.

Her father and her husband's father came to New Zealand from Canton, China.

Their families knew each other as they grew up in New Zealand, and they got closer after they went to Hawaii to study at Brigham Young University in 1968, according to the book Being Maori-Chinese: Mixed Identities.

Keung studied home economics there for three-and-a-half years, and her husband completed postgraduate studies in chemistry.

They married in Hawaii in 1971, shortly before returning to New Zealand for her husband to begin teaching chemistry at Church College. She didn't teach as she was pregnant at the time.

The Keungs raised five children and have several grandchildren.