Obituary: Puti Murray

* The Rev Puti Murray, Anglican priest. Died aged 83.

When the Rev Puti Murray heard singing under her church in Otara in South Auckland, she knew it was no heavenly choir.

When the basement door was opened, she found 31 teenagers with stolen goods and bags of glue.

She also realised she would need more than "religious ministry" if she was to make a difference in Otara.

Puti Hopaea Murray, the first Maori woman priest in the Anglican Church, died last Saturday in Otaki.

Mrs Murray spent almost 10 years in Otara at the Church of the Epiphany. She worked with Maori wardens and was part of the team who set up the Ngati Otara Marae.

But the focus of her efforts was the youth of Otara. She was a member of the South Auckland child protection team and one of a group of volunteers who accompanied youngsters to the old Children and Young Persons Court.

After the teenagers were found under the church, she pushed for the establishment of community-run welfare homes and a solvent-abuse centre.

No one was ever turned away from her home. "I have never been suspicious of anyone who came through my door," she said at her first retirement in 1988.

"I thought if the Lord sent them for me to look after, I could do it.

"And that means allowing them to bring out all their frustration and anger. Sometimes I get my hackles up and get angry with them. People say I don't mince my words - and I don't."

Mrs Murray's retirement to Te Kao in the Far North was short-lived and she returned to South Auckland to establish and direct Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri, an Anglican sanctuary for abused women and children.

Once that was up and running she went home again, but continued to play an active community role.

Dr Jenny Te Paa, head of Te Rau Kahikatea, the Maori Theological College at St Johns, paid tribute at the funeral on Waimirirangi Marae in Te Kao on Wednesday.

"Hers was a selfless devotion to the work of God among those who needed prayer, practical help, a good growling, clothing, kai, shelter. She simply responded to human need."

Mrs Murray, who had Te Aupouri and Ngati Kahu connections, grew up in Te Kao and attended Hukarere Girls College in Napier.

She married D'Arcy Murray after her first husband, Sam, drowned while fishing, and it was only after D'Arcy's death that she felt called to the ministry and enrolled at St John's Theological College in Auckland.

She was then 51, most of her eight children had left home, and she faced considerable challenges in a mostly white male institution.

She was permitted to attend classes and complete assignments, but not allowed to sit examinations with the other students.

After her ordination, she served as a curate at All Saints in Ponsonby before heading to Otara to become vicar at the Church of the Epiphany.

She is survived by her children Marie, John, Edward, Judy, Janey, Lovey, Raymond and Ronnie, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.