She was talking to a man and the conversation turned to problems small towns have.
"I was telling him it was sad because we had nowhere for our elderly to go. If they needed to go into care, they had to be taken out of town, which is very hard for elderly couples when one of them has to be taken in."
The man was very sympathetic.
He introduced himself: businessman Henry Clothier from Tirau.
Twenty years ago he had a vision for the small northern town and decided to do something about it.
He realised that many people passed through the town each day due to its situation on State Highway 1 and its proximity to many popular tourist destinations.
"Similar to Taihape in a way."
He bought an old building and turned it into a large, successful antique shop, transformed the old council building into a conference and event centre and, over the past 10 years, has been a leading force in attracting many other businesses to Tirau.
Elsie said the conversation ended with Mr Clothier offering to come to Taihape as a guest speaker and encourage the residents to really get behind the town.
"So we got the meeting all organised, and he's coming," Uffie said.
The two said although more businesses was a biggie, it was the rest home that was of prime importance.
The closure of the town's rest home and scaling back of hospital services came as a kick in the guts to the people of Taihape in 2010 and 2011.
