Plunket honours stalwart Stewart

Whanganui Plunket committee member Lisa Rodgers (left) and Bronwyn Kendrick hold a photograph of Lenore Stewart. PHOTO/ BEVAN CONLEY

The late Lenore Stewart was still attending and hosting Plunket meetings and helping out at teddy bears' picnics in her nineties.

In honour of all that service, a lounge in Whanganui's new Plunket Hub has been named after her.

The hub opened in July, and brings mother and child services such as midwives and ante-natal classes into one building. Its large lounge has been named after stalwart Plunket supporter Lenore Stewart.

Hearing that, her daughters Bronwyn Kendrick and Sue Jenkins-Jones have donated a photograph of their mother to hang there. It shows her, in her nineties with two children, publicising an annual Plunket fundraising appeal.

Mrs Stewart married into the family of John Tiffin Stewart, who donated the family's large house in Campbell St to become the Stewart Karitane Home for mothers and babies.

She took that family connection to heart and got involved in Plunket even before her first child was born.

Through the years she served on the Plunket committee, then became Whanganui president, then served on the national executive. She was made a life member.

Plunket wasn't her only interest. She also served on Whanganui's area health board and on tennis and swimming organisations, and organised visitors to rest homes. She was given an MBE in 1995.

It was fitting that her mother has been remembered in the name for the new lounge, daughter Bronwyn Kendrick said.

"Her whole life was devoted to charitable organisations."