Northland icon Myra Larcombe has died at the age of 94. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland icon Myra Larcombe has died at the age of 94. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Myra Larcombe — a staunch advocate for women's rights, a swimming coach for generations of Northlanders, an athlete still smashing national records in her 70s, a keeper of local history and one of the Bay of Islands' great identities — has died at the age of 94.
She died peacefully in her sleep on April 9. She will be farewelled at Ōpua Hall at 1.30pm on Thursday, with a stop en route about 1pm at Ōpua School where the children will sing waiata.
Larcombe was one of New Zealand's first female police officers when she joined the force in 1951 and was the first in Northland when she was transferred to Whangārei a year later.
Her life-long commitment to teaching generations of Northland children to swim was recognised with a lifetime achievement award at the Halberg Sports Awards in 2017, followed by a Queen's Service Medal in 2018.
The honour flabbergasted the famously outspoken Larcombe, who was convinced she was too controversial and opinionated for any sort of official recognition.
Later she became the go-to person for questions about Bay of Islands history. Her knowledge, of maritime history and her beloved Ōpua especially, was encyclopedic.
Myra Larcombe at home in Ōpua. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Born Myra Lane, the second of four children, she described her upbringing on a Waikare Inlet farm as ''free range''.
Her father instilled an independent spirit and ensured his children were strong swimmers.
At that time swimming was not so much a leisure activity as a survival skill, given that the young Myra had to row 3km to reach the train that took her to school in Kawakawa each day.
She was a ''tough, stubborn little bugger'' of a child.
''These days they would have diagnosed me with ADHD,'' she told the Advocate some years ago.
When the police started recruiting women her older sister encouraged her to sign up, arguing she could outrun any crook. She was 23 at the time.
At first, policewomen were glorified clerks, made to do paperwork in back offices.
Occasionally she would be tasked with investigating a minor crime. The theft of three pairs of women's panties from a washing line stood out.
The following year the police decided female officers should undergo training and wear a uniform.
Larcombe excelled in law and self-defence but still had to fight to survive in a ''totally male-dominated world''.
''It paid to be fitter than the men and to have acerbic wit. A number of new recruits left in a flood of tears. I was okay, could answer back and was extremely fit.''
Myra Larcombe's 1950s police notebook records such heinous crimes as the theft of three pairs of panties from a washing line. Photo / Michael Cunningham
She returned to Ōpua after a five-year stint with the police to work with her father Edmund Lane, who had bought a boat and set up a passenger service.
Years earlier, in 1919, he started the original Cream Trip around the Bay of Islands.
Her great passion was teaching people to swim efficiently. She went as far as immersing herself in the study of hydrodynamics.
When she won the lifetime award at the Halbergs she had been teaching children to swim for 71 years.
Such was her reputation that sporting greats Blair Tuke and Dame Valerie Adams reportedly queued up after the awards to have photos taken with her.
Myra Larcombe taught generations of Northland children to swim. Photo / John Stone
As a WaterSafe instructor she taught grandchildren of children she had taught in decades past. Larcombe started swimming competitively in 1946 and helped set up the Bay of Islands Swimming Club in 1974.
She shone in the masters division and smashed a number of New Zealand records, in particular the 200m butterfly.
She coached netball at Ōpua School for many years and was a founding member of the Kawakawa St John Ambulance station in the early 1970s.
A shoulder replacement in the early 2000s stopped her from competing in butterfly but she still swam almost every day.
Together with her younger sister, Nancy Greenfield, she kept a detailed record of every ship that docked at Ōpua from the wharf's reopening after World War II until its demise as a freight port in the 1990s.
Their records are now held at the Maritime Museum in Auckland with a copy at the museum in Kawakawa.
Myra Larcombe and sister Nancy Greenfield with their record of ships at the port of Opua. Photo / Peter de Graaf
That project was the seed of her encyclopedic knowledge of Bay of Islands history. She was a stickler for facts, clashing regularly with marine tourism firm Fullers over who started the famous Cream Trip.
Any time the Advocate made a historical error you could guarantee an email would arrive by the next morning, setting out the correct information.
Greenfield, who lives in Whangārei, said her sister was a Northland icon.
''She was tough, she was pushy, she was fair, she was disciplined, she was compassionate. She did her very best in everything she did. She had talent, grit, and a real sense of community.''
Monica Cooper, a top swimming coach at Northwave in Whangārei, said Larcombe was as encouraging of other teachers and coaches as she was of learners.
''Myra gave children a love of swimming, which encouraged them to continue as competitive swimmers. She had a passion for children enjoying the water and having the skills to be safe doing so. She made a huge contribution. She was a legend of swimming in Northland,'' Cooper said.
She is survived by daughter Janine Quaid, two siblings, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
