Gwenda in the beginning of her career. Photo / Supplied
Gwenda Trento was known as the flying midwife around the Tararua.
"Gwenda never did anything slowly," says former Tararua Health Group chief executive Sharon Wards.
The former midwife died on February 15 and was farewelled in Woodville on February 19. She was 84.
Her son, Nigel Houghton, says Gwenda was born at Hopelands just a few kilometres from Woodville.
She became interested in nursing at a young age and spent more than half a century working as a midwife, both in Pahiatua and Dannevirke.
"She really believed that this was her calling," says Sharon.
Gwenda was known as a bit of a character among her colleagues.
"She had a heart as big as the ocean. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for some of the women, especially if they were having trouble."
Sharon employed her as a casual midwife, doing postnatal visits to women in rural areas.
She says it was to ensure that "a woman at Akitio has as much postnatal care as someone around the corner from the hospital".
Gwenda spent a lot of time on the road doing postnatal visits to women who had delivered in Dannevirke or had transferred back and lived in the rural areas.
She would have been hard to miss, with the way she drove.
Nigel says his mother drove so fast he was scared to ride in the car with her.
"So if we went anywhere I said I would drive."
Sharon says Gwenda would often drive "like a bat out of hell" down gravel roads.
"Everyone knew - 'Oh, here comes the midwife'."
Her vehicles would also take a bit of a beating.
"Occasionally, she'd poke her head round and say 'I've clipped the mirror again, Sharon'," Sharon says with a laugh.
"You never knew what she was going to come out with."
Her former colleague, Linda Shannon, got to know Gwenda only at the end of her career.
"She was a very happy soul. Always chirpy."
Linda says she might have been at the last birth Gwenda was at.
"It turned out that the young woman - [Gwenda] was the midwife at her birth."
Sharon says Gwenda had her own way of doing things, even if it didn't happen to comply with changes in the system.
"Her ultimate goal was to make sure those women were well cared for and were comfortable and well prepared to be moving forward to look after their babies.
"With all the women she's helped, it's a pretty special legacy to have left behind."
She was also a strong woman of faith.
"She always saw the best in people. Whatever journey each of these mothers and babies had taken, she wouldn't judge, she'd just get in there and take the time," Sharon says.
"When you think about the pressures that a lot of our healthcare professionals are under and have been for a long time, being able to take that time would have paid huge dividends for a lot of those mothers."
Gwenda met her first husband, Howard Houghton, at church. Nigel believes he was at least 20 years older than her.
The couple raised two boys, Carey and Nigel. Howard died when Nigel was 8.
When Nigel was 11, she married Raymond Southgate and became stepmum to six children.
Raymond died in 1999.
Gwenda then married Luigi (Louie) Trento at age 80. He died after two years of marriage.
She is survived by her two sons, two grandchildren and about 16 step-grandchildren.
The iwi's purchase follows a $115 million Treaty settlement in 2021.