Former Kawerau mayor Lyn Hartley (left) with current mayor, her former deputy, Malcolm Campbell. Photo / Supplied
Former Kawerau mayor Lyn Hartley (left) with current mayor, her former deputy, Malcolm Campbell. Photo / Supplied
Former Kawerau mayor Lyn Hartley will be sadly missed but the legacy she leaves in her beloved town is a strong one, current mayor Malcolm Campbell says.
Hartley died on Thursday, aged 80, after a long battle with illness. Initially trained as a nurse, she spent six years as deputymayor and 15 years as mayor of Kawerau.
Campbell spent three years as Hartley's deputy before taking over as mayor when she stood down and said she was a woman with a wicked sense of humour who cared deeply about people and the community.
"She was also a celebrant so spent many, many years marrying people and farewelling those who had passed," he said.
"She was one of those people who could run a funeral and everybody was laughing at the end of it all. She got the best out of everything."
Former Kawerau mayor Lyn Hartley pictured in 1998. Photo / File
He said it was after losing her son to cancer that Hartley stood down from mayor and went back to nursing until she retired.
She was well respected within the Kawerau community and by all involved in local government in New Zealand.
"She had good connections and she will be sadly missed but she does leave a great legacy. She spent the last five or six years of her life in a pretty traumatic experience with dementia, which was quite sad.
"Everyone still talks about Lyn as being the mayor, everybody called her Lyn. She was part of the 1989 reform and her leadership kept us as the Kawerau District when the big amalgamations took place. We've been independent ever since."
Campbell said Hartley would be laid to rest with her son and husband at the Pongakawa cemetery on Saturday.
The family was planning to have a celebration of her life with the community once New Zealand moved out of alert level 4.
Grieving families wait to farewell loved ones
Osbornes Funeral Directors' Richie Fullard said several families waiting to farewell loved ones were on standby due to the lockdown.
"We do have deceased people in our care that the families can't achieve what they would normally achieve outside of lockdown so that's been stressful for them of course," he said.
"We've had a couple of funeral services postponed until we can come together as a community and celebrate their lives."
Fullard said, while it was a hard situation for families to be in, they knew it could not be helped until alert levels change.
Funeral director Richard Fullard from Osbornes Funeral Directors. Photo / File
"The families are pretty understanding, it's the second time around for us and I think families are a lot more aware of not only the responsibilities for us but also for them to look after the community.
"There was one planned for Wednesday at 11am and we went into lockdown the night before. That family is understandably slightly distressed about not being able to achieve what they wanted to achieve but they do understand that this is the new norm essentially.
"A lot of these kinds of things have to be postponed for the greater good."
