Mavis Carter was awarded over 250 medals over a lifetime of competing in track and field sporting events. Photo by Bevan Conley.
Mavis Carter was Whanganui's own sporting legend who defied disability, age and terminal illness to show the world what she was made of. Liz Wylie pays tribute to a remarkable woman and astounding athlete.
The Whanganui woman who earned the title "Amazing Mavis" at the World Masters' Games in April has died.
Mavis Madeline Carter died peacefully last Friday. She was 81.
It would be a disservice to Mavis to say that she "battled" cancer when she simply put it to one side in order to achieve her goals.
They were added to her collection of 250 medals won at sporting events around New Zealand and overseas during her lifetime.
Born Mavis Downey in Auckland in 1936, the determined athlete was profoundly deaf - a disability that never prevented her from achieving her objectives.
As a young woman, Mavis travelled to Finland where she competed in the World Games of the Deaf in 1961.
After the games, she planned to travel to London to meet the birth father she never knew.
Due to some confusion over the expiry date on her ticket, Mavis was stranded in Finland for several weeks where she won the hearts of locals.
In a story printed in Kuurojen Lehti (Magazine for the Deaf), she was remembered as a "charming 25-year-old".
The games committee bought her a ticket home and Mavis wrote to her benefactors in 1979 to tell them about her life in Whanganui.
By then she had married Neil Carter and the couple had four children - Christine, Cherie, Peter and David.
Cherie said the story of her mother's European adventure did not surprise her because Mavis always had an intrepid spirit.
Mavis continued her sporting pursuits when her children were young and also maintained a glamorous image.
An admirer of Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe, Mavis had albums filled with photos of her gorgeous young self out and about with Neil and friends.
"She made all her own clothes," said Cherie.
"She always liked to look her best."
Mavis would maintain a high level of fitness all her life and competed in Masters' Games competitions in Whanganui and the South Island over the decades.
In 2011 when she was 75, Mavis had an outstanding South Island Masters in Nelson winning four golds and a silver medal.
She won gold in the 60m sprint, 100m sprint, triple jump with a jump of 5.04m, and long jump with a jump of 2.27m.
Cherie and her son Nick Carter-Lewis, who lives in Wellington, have been visiting Mavis twice each month to make sure she had everything she needed.
Visits to Whanganui have been harder for Christine whose estranged husband, Alan Bristol, took the lives of their three young daughters Tiffany 7, Holly 3, and Claudia 18 months, as well as his own 23 years ago.
The community had been unaware of the physical and emotional abuse Christine had suffered during her marriage and she never thought Bristol would harm their children.
Despite her own devastation, Christine campaigned for change to the laws governing domestic protection legislation and prompted a 1995 law revision to boost protection of children involved in custody disputes.
Now in a loving marriage with step-daughters and grandchildren, Christine says her mother helped to give her the strength to keep going through the difficult years that followed the deaths of her children.
"She was my right-hand woman," Christine says of her mother.
It is difficult for a hearing person to imagine where her inspiration came from.
Perhaps Mavis only heard her own inner voice that said "you can" and she was able to ignore the chattering of self-doubt that plagues many of us.
Nick Carter-Lewis says he has great memories of a grandmother who made him proud with her sporting achievements.
"I always enjoyed watching her compete at Cooks Gardens, looking through her photos and seeing her latest medals," he says.
Mavis requested a private, family funeral held in Whanganui on Tuesday and her ashes were buried with granddaughters Tiffany, Holly and Claudia as she wished.