Tireless charity patron and, above all, mother
Lady Norma Beattie, who has died aged 92, was a leader who left her mark on society by contributing to a long list of organisations and causes throughout her life as a founder, organiser, fundraiser and patron.
In this dimension of her life, she embodied a sense of public service for which she was honoured by a Queen’s Service Order for services to the community.
Her husband, Sir David Beattie, held the office of governor-general from 1980 to 1985.
During their time at Government House they travelled widely throughout New Zealand. The people they met along the way inspired their later charitable work. ‘‘We fell in love with our own people as well as the country,’’ she once recalled.
Sir David was patron of more than 50 organisations and his wife was co-patron of many of them with him. She was patron of the Mary Potter Hospice, helping to raise more than $7.5 million for the charity, and Diabetes New Zealand – a disease her family had a predisposition to – for 23 years.
She and Sir David worked hard to help Diabetes New Zealand raise its profile and educate people about the disease.
She had a dim view of the 2001 Labour government’s role in tackling diabetes, saying at the time it held a denial stance on the issue. She frequently targeted politicians, asking what they were going to do about it.
She had no problem approaching politicians and ministry officials to ask about nutrition, diet and fitness matters. She wore that role right to the end. Only a week before her death she signed off as patron on a submission by Diabetes NZ about the introduction of a sugar tax. Her efforts never waned.
Difficult politicians never fazed her. She thought nothing of admonishing Sir Robert Muldoon, who was prime minister during their tenure at Government House, when he arrived ‘‘tired and emotional’’ for a tense meeting with her husband.
She escorted him to the door, told him to behave himself, then sent him packing.
She was famously heralded for making the Buzzy Bee an international icon when she gave one of the wooden toys to Prince William when he stayed at Government House for a week with Prince Charles and Princess Diana during their 1983 tour.
Photographs of the royal baby in the grounds of Government House sucking on the toy were beamed all over the world, to the delight of the manufacturers. At the time the makers of the Buzzy Bee were in trouble but, thanks to the international media attention, demand for the toy skyrocketed.
Beattie admitted she had been tossing up whether to give the prince the bee or a teddy wearing a Colin Meads No 5 All Blacks jersey. Her decision to go with the bee cemented it into New Zealand culture and saved an industry.
Years later her youngest son, Simon, met Prince William at Premier House and asked when he was going to get his Buzzy Bee back.
Norma Macdonald was born and raised in Auckland. Her mother had been a nurse and her father worked as a marine engineer.
After her primary school years at Meadowbank School, she went to Epsom Grammar, where she excelled at sport. She took great pride in her role as deputy games captain and particular pride in her uniform, which included a gold belt with a silver buckle.
What she wore and how she wore it was imprinted on her from an early age. Style was her calling card for life.
In 1944, after a brief stint in a bank, she began her four-year nursing training at Auckland Hospital, followed by another six months in Timaru, where she did her maternity training.
Meanwhile, her brother had met a young David Beattie while in the navy during World War II. When David returned to New Zealand he came to the Macdonald family home to deliver some of her brother’s kit, and Norma was summoned to meet him. A week after they began courting they were engaged. They were married in 1950 and settled in Takapuna.
While Sir David pursued his career in the law, his wife took on the role of motherhood, going on to have seven children.
When her husband became a judge in 1969, the family moved to governor-general, the couple retired to Heretaunga.
Beattie admitted it was tricky to go back to all the old chores she had given up so happily during those five years at Government House. It was a great family joke that, when she first got into a lift, she forgot she had to press the button herself.
When Sir David died in 2001, she moved into central Wellington and embraced apartment living.
She contributed to The
Dominion’s column inches when she defied a Wellington bylaw that made it illegal for her to walk her dog. ‘‘Every time I step out the door with the dog, I’m breaking the law,’’ she said at the time.
Beattie was fit and able well into her 80s, still walking to the Westpac Stadium to watch the Hurricanes. She learned to draw at 80, and studied embroidery for many years.
Aside from her charity work, it was the role of motherhood she cherished most. She is survived by six of her seven children, 20 of her 21 grandchildren, and eight greatgrandchildren. –
She thought nothing of admonishing Sir Robert Muldoon, when he arrived ‘‘tired and emotional’’ for a tense meeting with her husband. She . . . told him to behave himself, then sent him packing.