If anyone in Rotorua can claim to be steeped in local history it's Pam McGrath.
Not that she's a figure of antiquity, far from it, but she's in the unique position that virtually all her life's been rooted in the region's oldest tourist attraction, the Buried Village.
She's the third generation of her family to be involved with what's been one of the country's leading visitor drawcards, spanning three centuries. Originally known as Te Wairoa and founded by missionary Seymour Spencer as a model English village, it began life in the 19th century, only to be obliterated by the 1886 Tarawera eruption.
To state the obvious, that's where the name "buried'' comes in to play. Pam's forebears, the Smith family, began the area's excavation 81 years ago.
Pam and husband Pat are the village's kaitiaki (guardians), living in the home they've built on the site of such historical significance. This begs the question, does she give thought to Tarawera springing back into life, decimating her own home?
Her answer's a resounding "no'', with this rider attached: "I'm far more worried driving on the road into town.''
Pam does a lot of that. Her commitment to tourism and her home town are wide-ranging.
When her three, now adult, sons were young she served as Lynmore Playcentre president, then was one of Lynmore Primary's original board of trustees, followed by five years on the Boy's High board, and chairing it.
"I loved it. It was good to give something back to education, after all it was going to be my career.''
Pam's initial career path was teaching. She graduated from Waikato University with a Bachelor of Education but hadn't long been at the chalk face when she married Pat McGrath, her flatmate's brother.
It was while she was pregnant with their eldest son that her parents, Dudley and Nora Smith, suggested the couple move to the Buried Village for a year. "That year's extended to 32, I guess it was just a natural family progression.''
It was hard going initially, living above the shop, but "I'm fortunate that I have a wonderful husband and wonderful staff, so I now have more time to make a contribution to my community.''
Pam's active in the women's service organisation, Zonta, holds the notoriously difficult role of local fundraiser and recently returned from its international conference in Torino, Italy.
She chairs the Dress for Success organisation, assisting women to return to the workforce with confidence in their
appearance, and has been on the district's Sustainable Tourism Charter Group since its inception.
It's a mark of her business acumen that for two years she's been on the Rotorua Business Awards judging panel.
"That's been so very rewarding, being a judge you realise how amazingly energised businesses out there are, it really makes you proud to be a Rotorua person.''
Devoted as she is to tourism, Pam acknowledges that "energised'' isn't a word she'd apply to the industry's state of play, accepting it's been hard-hit by the world- wide recession.
"Because of the economic climate, New Zealand is now no longer top of the pops for international visitors. Being so far away, we're even being eclipsed by countries in Africa. Domestically, the market's not that buoyant either.''
Another factor such a long-established attraction now faces is the number of new marketplace competitors.
"When we came here in 1981 there wasn't a lot of competition for a piece of the cake, we were one of the key players, but over the last 30 years every man and his dog's got into tourism, so we've really had to compete with something a little bit different.''
Living by the glass half-full principle, Pam's risen to the challenge, adopting modern technology to keep the village's profile high.
The "Mosey'' is a recent innovative introduction. The name is short for "mosey along'' and it's a hand-held guiding device visitors carry from one village highlight to another, as a period-dressed guide explains each.
In keeping with her family's generational village links, that guide is the McGraths' youngest son, Wellington-based Thomas, who is accomplished in music and theatre.
Despite his contemporary contribution, she insists there aren't any expectations that the McGraths' sons will carry on the Buried Village management tradition. The other two live in Australia, where Peter is a geologist and David a rugby league-playing bricklayer.
Regardless, family guiding traditions remain at the village, highlighted when Pam introduced us to the attraction's newest recruit, Brian Winiata-Katting. Dapper in Victorian waistcoat and bowler, he's a fifth-generation descendant of Guide Sophia.
It was Sophia who led excursions to the Pink and White Terraces and who sighted the phantom canoe, the portent of Tarawera's fury that led to their destruction.
Had Tarawera not roared into life that night there'd be no Buried Village ... and Pam's destiny would have been different.
The question she is most frequently asked, is: Will the unexcavated sections of the village remain buried?
Plans, she reveals, are in train for a dig at the former McRae's Hotel site.
"Because the hotel was still standing after the eruption, it would be cool to reconstruct it, that's certainly the dream.''
If there's one thing Pam McGrath isn't, it's a dreamer.
PAM McGRATH
Born: Rotorua, 1953.
Education: Lynmore Primary, Malfroy Intermediate, Rotorua Girls' High (head prefect 1971), University of Waikato graduating with a Bachelor of Education.
Family: Husband Pat, three sons, one granddaughter, two grandsons.
Interests: Family "I especially enjoy spending time with the grandchildren in Australia'', working, community involvement, reading "a variety but I do like new, popular books'', walking.
On the Buried Village: "It's my home, I love the integrity of the place, the thought of all the people who've lived here, Maori and Pakeha, and what my forbears have done to resurrect it to show what it must have been like pre- eruption, it's real, we're no Disneyland. Not many businesses in New Zealand have been run by the same people for 89 years.''
Personal Philosophies: "Treat others as I'd like to be treated. My favourite fridge magnet says `Individuality is the vibrancy of life'. I find mediocrity and conformity stifling.''