Our People: Wiremu and Marsella Edmonds

Wiremu and Marsella Edmonds are "gobsmacked" at being named People of the Year. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

"I'll put my pinny on, Wiremu can wear his hunting gear ... ."

That, word for word, was Marsella Edmonds' rather giggly come-back when Our People told her we wanted to suss out the unseen side of the couple this newspaper named Rotorua's 2014 People of the Year.

The accolade recognised their on-going work as safety advocates in the notoriously unsafe forestry industry following the death of Marsella's son, by a previous relationship, Robert. He lost his life when a tree being felled struck him in 2013.

Their safety-focused campaigning nationally and internationally has been well documented, so we leave them to lie on the table and get on with Our People's remit of "getting to know you, Mr and Mrs Edmonds".
That's where Marsella's "pinny and hunting gear" quip slots in.
It's an accurate one - she's an avid baker, he a passionate hunter.
Chatting with the pair is a dizzying voyage of discovery; between them, their lives are a saga of compounding success stories.

Wiremu's a professional carver, graduating with honours from the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. He's demonstrated his skills to the Queen during her 1990s NZMACI visit, carved the tiaha presented to Nelson Mandela on his New Zealand visit, worked on the poutuarongo (centre post) at the army's Waiouru marae and, at 21, was invited to spend three months carving in Japan "making a 7 foot (2m plus) waka in seven days, I gave it away, let's face it, I couldn't row it back".
With full-time carving work thin on the ground when he graduated, he followed his whanau tradition, becoming a bushman.

Community
In light of what was to come more than two decades on, it's significant that he moved from forestry into community-focused programmes, health and safety delivery included.
Early on in his career change, Wiremu was contracted by Boys' High to provide pastoral care to truants and their families; next he facilitated youth leadership programmes instigated by league star Tawera Nikau " ... working across the spectrum from the corporate sector to going into prisons, Paremoremo's A, B, C and D blocks included".

He's spent time with NRL teams and crossed the Tasman to work with the Parramatta Eels.
Although Marsella's background is rooted in the hospitality industry, she's been a road safety co-ordinator with Maatua Whangai and ACC, spearheading the Students against Drunk Driving (SADD) and child restraint programmes, worked in retailing, as a professional nail technician, who's operated a home-based beauty room, and as an ace saleswoman.

Although flogging radio advertising "wasn't her thing", she flourished at Telecom and more latterly in GrabOne's regional business development sector "hitting peak sales while I was still grieving Robert".

Family
Both are in accord that it's their family that's the core of their beings; together they have four children 21, 15, 6 and 5. The little ones came after Marsella's tubes were tied. Hard to believe, but the youthful Edmonds are grandparents almost twice over. Despite this and Marsella recently miscarrying twins, they'd be thrilled to welcome more children. Wiremu reckons a family of 10 "sounds pretty good to me".

How, we probe, did this dynamic duo connect? The answer belongs in that "only in Rotorua" category - it was at The Towers nightclub, although Marsella insists Wiremu made an abortive attempt to introduce himself at the 1996 national kapa haka championships at Arawa Park.

"I was with Ngati Rangewewehi, he kept staring at me, tried to strike up a conversation. I was offended; I thought he was really strange because of the look in his eye."
Shift the scene some weeks on to The Towers where initially he again failed to impress, sending a female friend to deliver his messages.

"I hadn't had enough to drink to do it personally," is Wiremu's take on why he wimped out of approaching Marsella himself.
Alcohol hasn't addled his social skills since he joined the Church of the Latter Day Saints at 22.

He began to pursue Marsella in earnest, making no apology for hastening her into marriage three months on.
"I was wise enough to see where I was heading, my dream was to have a wife who depicted the attributes of my mum."

When they married, Wiremu was too broke to buy a ring.
"Two hours before the ceremony, I borrowed one from the Mad Jeweller [Brian McGillivray], I told him I'd give him the money on pay day, he was so amazed when I returned with the cash he gave it to us."

For the Apumoana Marae ceremony Marsella's "something borrowed" was her dress.
"A friend lent it to me, it was really beautiful with Maori designs. My husband still says he owes me a proper wedding but I've never complained about the way we got married so quickly, although at the time I was a bit apprehensive."

There's not the merest hint of false modesty when the couple insist they remain 'gobsmacked' being named the Post's People of the Year.

"We still feel shy about it, there's so many deserving people out there but we also feel gratitude because it came on the back of losing our son. We're not about fame and fortune, what we've done [for forestry safety] is about obligation and the sacred rules of respect as parents to their children."

WIREMU & MARSELLA EDMONDS
(NEE EPAPARA)
Born: Both in Rotorua, Wiremu 1976, Marsella 1971.
Education: Wiremu: Selwyn Primary, Kaitao Intermediate,
Western Heights High, NZMACI. Marsella: Aorangi Primary, Sunset
Intermediate, Rotorua Girls' High.
Family: Three daughters, one son and the late Robert Ruri-
Epapara, grandson.
Interests: Wiremu: Family, pig hunting "especially with my
children", church "so I can learn to be a better husband and father",
former boxer and a Black Belt Second Dan at 12;
Marsella: "Cherishing time with my children, puddings with my girlfriends,
baking, my girls and I bake all the time."
Personal philosophies: Wiremu: "Put your values back into your
family and home." Marsella: "Success doesn't compensate for
failure in the home."