Obituary: Lady Grace Todd

Missionary. Died aged 90.

Lady Grace Todd, former church missionary and wife of former Southern Rhodesia Prime Minister Sir Garfield Todd, has died at her home in Zimbabwe.

One of her daughters, Alycen Watson, who lives in Blenheim, said Lady Grace, a New Zealander, was "a teacher, a very good teacher". She died on New Year's Eve.

Lady Grace was known for her work in building up the Dadaya boarding school and running it for more than 40 years.

The school at Shabani, 150km north-east of Bulawayo, is home to thousands of students and regarded as one of the finest in the country.

High-profile leaders, including President Robert Mugabe received and provided education at the school. President Mugabe was a Dadaya teacher at primary level.

Mrs Watson described her mother as "very determined and very, very strict" and said she would be missed by many people in Zimbabwe, including many high-profile people in that country who had been educated with her help.

Mrs Watson moved with her parents in 1934, when she was 2 years old, to what was then known as Southern Rhodesia, where they worked as missionaries of the New Zealand Church of Christ.

A July 2000 article in the Zimbabwe Standard in Harare entitled "Todds - Living Legends in Black Zimbabwe", described how Lady Grace had to sell her filing cabinet and leopard skin in 1936 to raise money for teachers' salaries.

Lady Grace retired from running the school about 20 years ago, said her daughter, who returned to New Zealand 35 years ago.

She had not been well and the news of her death had been expected for some time.

Mrs Watson said her mother had a good relationship with the Zimbabwean people and had taught them a lot. Many of the teachers were taught by her.

Her funeral is expected to attract a large crowd.

"They were very well known and very well liked ... They were very popular," Mrs Watson said.

The Todds own the 20,244ha Hokonui Ranch, so far unaffected by the invasions of white-owned properties in the troubled country.

This is believed to be linked to the work of the Todds and the influence the school has had on many of the country's black leaders.

Southland-born Sir Garfield, now 93, was Prime Minister from 1953 to 1958. He was arrested by the Smith Government in 1965 and confined to his ranch for a year because of his opposition to the illegal unilateral declaration of independence.

He was arrested again in 1972 and imprisoned for five weeks without charge or trial and again detained at his ranch, this time for four years.

He was knighted in 1985 for his services to New Zealand and Africa.

- NZPA