New Year Honours: Teariki Mei

Wairoa kaumatua Teariki Mei has been honoured for services to Maori. Photo / File

When Wairoa kaumatua Teariki Mei was honoured in last's year's Ngati Kahungunu Maori Language Awards for the decades he has spent promoting te reo, he was described as humble and kind-hearted.

The humility continues in his response to being awarded the Queen's Service Medal, which he says makes him feel "no different - it hasn't changed anything at all".

Family say his initial reaction to being honoured with the QSM for services to Maori was: "Why me? I'm 80; there are younger people who are more deserving."

Mr Mei was a teacher for 44 years in a career which culminated in a senior role at Wellington Polytechnic before he retired back to his home in Wairoa.

He has worked with the Wairoa District Council for more than 20 years as the primary source of knowledge on the Maori language and Maori protocol, and has used his experience in the education sector to act as a cultural advisor to local organisations.

He has been a member of the Wairoa-Waikaremoana Mori Trust Board since 2000, and is currently a mandated representative for the WAI 621 Treaty of Waitangi claimant group. He is a member of a training and education subsidiary of the trust board which helps to deliver training and education programmes to learners in Wairoa and Hastings.

Among a number of other community involvements, Mr Mei contributed to the introduction of Whare Wananga O Awanui-a-Rangi, a wananga programme put in place on a number of marae in the Wairoa district since 2005.

Last year's Ngati Kahungunu te reo award recognised Mr Mei's "dedicated and passionate" work promoting the Maori language, both within the iwi and beyond.

The year 2015 will mark the end of an era with Mr Mei deciding to progressively step down from the various boards and committees he sits on so he can relax and spend more time on another passion: his garden. After a lifetime of service, "the mind is willing but the body is not," he says.