3 Jul 2013

Hundreds attend tangi of Maureen Waaka

6:58 pm on 3 July 2013

Hundreds of people have travelled from near and far to attend the tangi of the long-serving Rotorua District Council representative, Maureen Waaka.

Mrs Waaka, who was also the first Maori woman to be crowned Miss New Zealand in 1962, died on Monday, at the age of 70.

Her tangi is being held at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua.

A funeral service will be held from 11am on Thursday, before her casket is taken to Kauae Cemetery for burial.

Rotorua deputy mayor, and family friend, Trevor Maxwell, says she will be buried alongside her mother and father, Rhona and Irikau Kingi.