Jo and Peter Gravit during their 60th anniversary celebration Photo / Supplied
Jo Gravit was a woman of conviction who championed her community of Te Puna.
She was a Western Bay of Plenty district councillor from 2001 until stepping down in 2010.
Gravit remained an active member of the community right until her cancer diagnosis in September. She died on December 4, nine days after her husband of 60 years, Peter.
During her time as a councillor she was member of the Ōmokoroa Community Board, and chaired the community co-ordination and sustainable communities committees.
Gravit was also part of the community volunteer organisation Te Puna Heartland.
Te Puna Heartland member Beth Bowden said once Gravit stepped down from council she rolled up her sleeves and relished the opportunity to get fully involved in the organisation’s work.
”She was Te Puna’s heart and soul.”
She rallied the community to ensure the Te Puna hall was replaced after it had to be demolished when upgrades were done to the intersection of State Highway 2 and Te Puna Rd.
The late octogenarian also ensured Te Puna had an emergency response plan and a community management plan.
”She was a great believer in practical activity,” Bowden said.
Not only would she get things done, but she had a way of soothing ruffled feathers, Bowden said.
”She was always right, but she would always smooth the waters so that people thought they were right too.”
Bowden considered Gravit and her husband dear friends. She will greatly miss the weekly Sunday-morning coffee dates with Gravit at a local cafe.
Councillor Don Thwaites worked with Gravit for 18 months after winning his seat in a byelection, but the pair were friends for years before that.
A fellow Te Puna resident, Thwaites managed the Gravits’ orchard when they lived in Wellington from 1985 to 1999.
In Wellington, Gravit was the chief executive of the women’s division of Federated Farmers, having managed their Te Puna dairy farm before it was converted to a kiwifruit orchard.
Thwaites said the former councillor got the Te Puna library set up at the school and the footpaths in Te Puna and Armstrong Rds were laid because of her advocacy.
”She was a stickler for the detail and an incredible reader. She used to read all the reports and be able to speak to everything [in council]”
Thwaites said she set the standard pretty high for him as a new councillor.
”When the big debates had come up, she loved to quote back to policy, which used to infuriate a few of the other councillors around the table who wanted to have a crack at bending rules.
”She was actually known to break the odd policy herself when it suited her, but in a nice way.”
Thwaites also played indoor bowls against Gravit for years at the hall she had helped replace.
”She traded a 98-year-old hall for a brand-new hall.”
Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge served two terms with Gravit. Murray-Benge said she was thoughtful, caring, and a good networker.
”She never stopped caring and working for her community.
”She’s a perfect example of a woman who stood up and participated and a great example to other women to follow on and do the same.”
Richard Comyn, former chairman of Te Puna Heartlands, described Gravit as a great peacemaker with loads of local knowledge.
”She was always trying to find the common ground. She’ll be missed on Heartland for her breadth of knowledge.”
Gravit was born in 1941 and grew up in Sanson, Manawatū. She was educated at Palmerston North High School, then did a Bachelor of Science at the University of Canterbury.
She became a teacher, married Peter and had four children — one of their daughters died at a young age from cancer.
In 1973, she and Peter moved to Tauranga, and then bought a farm in Te Puna. She was heavily involved in her children’s lives as well as managing the farm, and was on the PTA at Te Puna School, which her children attended.
”Mum put the kids first,” her son Jonathan said.
After her stint in Wellington, Gravit became a member of the Acorn Foundation, was part of the Tauranga Budgeting Service, and her “biggest legacy” was as the Tauranga Community Housing Trust chairwoman.
Jonathan said she wasn’t afraid to make the big calls and the trust expanded and bought pensioner housing in Whakatāne and Murupara, with the Murupara homes sold to iwi.
”She had a strong understanding of that interlinking between health services and iwi services.”
Another achievement Jonathan said his mum was most proud of was being involved in getting an unsealed stretch of State Highway 36 tar-sealed.
Her involvement in the community was so valued that just before her death she received a call asking her to be part of an advisory group, which Jonathan said she politely declined.
He described his mum as a woman of conviction, determined to champion people and their needs.
”She left the community in a better place than she found it.”
Gravit is survived by her children Jonathan, Roanna and Virginia, and seven grandchildren.
A celebration of her life is being held at Te Puna Memorial Hall today at 11.30am.
— Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air
Jefferies and family will enjoy a leg of lamb with summer sides.