Once, Twice, Three times a Lady
You know, the day was all about him, his life, his music and so it should have been. It’s been two days since New Zealand laid to rest an entertainment son, patriarch, father, koro (maori word for grandfather) and husband. And with all due respect he’d lived a life. He was the son that travelled overseas and always came home. He was Sir Howard Morrison and he cast quite a shadow.
Rangiwhata Ann Manahi
Some say, but not me, that in that shadow stood Rangiwhata Ann Manahi aka Kuia, a woman who had been his helpmate for over fifty years. He called her his “life, his love, his foundation”. It was Cicero in 106-43 B.C. to whom the saying, ‘Ut imago est animi voltus sic indices oculi’ – The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter is attributed.
The Latin proverbs, ‘Vultus est index animi’ or ‘Oculus animi index,’ are usually translated as ‘The face is the index of the mind.’ The French say, ‘Les yeux sont le miroir de l’âme – The eyes are the mirror of the soul. The eyes are the window of the soul’ is a variant form of the proverb.” I liked the look of Lady Morrison from the get-go, hers is a friendly yet no-nonsense face that is kind around her eyes. Kind in my opinion, where it matters.
She has a ‘can’t-put-your-finger-on-it’ quality about her Kuia, Lady Morrison. It’s in her stance, which is upright yet open. She’s a handsome woman too, though those closer to her than you or me say she dismisses such attention. That made me like her even more. Why? This modern day pre-occupation with looks has become tiresome to me.
This week at Sir Howard’s tangihanga (maori word for funeral) images of her struck me as more caring for others than for herself. You could see them in those gentle gestures of support and comfort to fellow singer Tina Cross and N.Z. opera great Dame Malvina Majors.
It wasn’t lost on me either that hers was simply a family trait. Describing her uncle Lance Sergeant Haami Manahi as ‘quiet, humble and charming’ she might easily have been describing how people the world over saw her on the day of the tangihanga.
Lance Sergeant Haani Manahi
Her uncle, Lance Sergeant Haani Manahi was a war hero though he wouldn’t have told you that! Infact he rarely told anyone, family members included. “In April 1943, as a member of B Company of the 28th Maori Battalion, his platoon was given the task of capturing a pinnacle in Takrouna, a village in Tunisia, North Africa.
Although the 5th Brigade’s night attack on the feature failed to achieve its objectives because of artillery and mortar fire, and landmines, two sections, one of which was commanded by Manahi, managed to clamber up its western precipice and seize the pinnacle at first light. Under heavy shellfire they clung to the position. When part of it was lost due to a counter attack, the enemy was driven out after vicious hand-to-hand fighting.
The next morning the Italians took back the pinnacle, but once again Manahi led a counter attack. He and two men took several machine gun and mortar posts, after which the encircled defenders surrendered. Four generals recommended Haani Manahi for a Victoria Cross for his actions, but the recommendation was later altered, for unknown reasons, to a Distinguished Conduct Medal, the next Award down.
The Manahi VC Committee
The Manahi VC Committee, Te Arawa and members of the 28th Maori Battalion have campaigned since 2000 for him to get the recognition he deserved. The request for a VC was turned down by the Queen, who followed her father King George’s 1949 decision to make no further Awards from World War II. However, the palace agreed to compensate LSGT Manahi, and after consulting with the Manahi VC Committee and Te Arawa, decided on the Award.”
She’s humble. There’s a lovely story of how Lady Kuia sent one of her friends over to the whakaturia – the dining room on the day of the tangihanga. The woman said, she sent me down there and said “go and see what’s for lunch so I can go and thank the cooks”. She is a really, really down-to-earth person. I’ve found that everywhere I go, among people of great reputation. They’re humble to a fault.
The New York Marathon
The word on the street is that she’s doing the New York Marathon (on her 72nd birthday no less) just like she’d planned to when Sir Howard was alive. I loved that she was making him stay at home had he lived because the N.Y. Marathon was going to be girl-time. I think she’s not once, not even twice but three times a Lady and I think she’s great.
