Morrison sisters' anguish

As they publicly mourn their brother's passing, Sir Howard Morrison's three surviving sisters are privately grieving the loss of the sibling they simply called "Brother".
For Judy Tapsell of Maketu, Rene (Buncie) Mitchell and Linda Morrison, both of Rotorua, his death is an unhappy reminder they are the only survivors of what had originally been a whanau of seven.
They lost their oldest brother, Laurie, in 1974, another brother, Charlie, died in infancy and youngest sister Atareta (Dina) Maxwell died suddenly in January 2006 from a heart attack. Their mother, Kahurangi (Gertie) Morrison, is also to the forefront of their thoughts as they see their numbers dwindling. The family matriarch died in 1995; their father, Temuera, when they were youngsters.
Mrs Mitchell said Sir Howard's death had left the sisters in the sort of large, empty space only a loved brother's death could leave.
"He was the biggest, wisest brother any sisters could have, now we are in such a big hole without him," Mrs Mitchell said.
Sir Howard was his sisters' poutukomanawa - their pole of strength.
"He was our mentor, our friend. We are going to find it very hard making decisions without him. As our tuakana [elder sibling] he was always there to advise and guide us."
Mrs Tapsell said with their mother's death her brother had picked up the family's mantle of leadership.
"He was our security, our adviser. We were brought up to do the right thing and it was Howard who made sure we did the right thing."
For the sisters, the high point of their family life had been that their mother had lived to celebrate Sir Howard's knighthood.
"For her it was our biggest moment of family achievement."
Sir Howard never hid his affection for his sisters, frequently referring to them as "The Blisters".
While each is extremely gifted musically and have had a lifetime's involvement with entertainment and kapa haka, they did not share the national stage with their brother until 1979.
Mrs Mitchell recalled that was at a Tu Tangata concert in Hamilton.
"He stood there and called us the original Howard Morrison Quartet, well, in a way I guess we were. We'd sung together since we were little kids in Ohinemutu and Ruatahuna."
She said while the sisters had known their brother was famous, they had not anticipated there would be such a universal outpouring of grief at his death.
"All these wonderful tributes being paid to him has made us realise he belonged to the whole of New Zealand and that he touched so many people from all over the world. We are very, very touched."