AGE-OLD mysteries are being unravelled in Howick in the wake of the last month’s Anzac Day service on Stockade Hill.
After reading a Times story on Sister Frances Haultain on the afternoon before Anzac Day, Ms Ripassa contacted Howick Returned Services Association vice-president Barry Dreyer.
“I came home from work and I saw it [a copy of the Times] sitting there on the bench. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that anyone would be talking about or thinking about it,” says Ms Ripassa, who is a descendant of Miss Haultain’s aunt.
In a hastily organised meeting, Ms Ripassa and Mr Dreyer pieced together the facts they had on the Anzac nurse.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘That’s fantastic,’”says Mr Dreyer. “Sue obviously reacted very quickly.”
Armed with the new information, at 10pm he completely re-wrote his presentation on Miss Haultain, due to be delivered at the dawn service on Stockade Hill.
A keen genealogist, Ms Ripassa says she came across the story of her ancestor, who was not officially enlisted, in the early 1990s.
But her aunt Dora Roberts, a Howick resident, battled authorities to have her niece recognised in the New Zealand Roll of Honour.
“She wrote letter after letter. She’s the one who took it up,” says Ms Ripassa. “That’s why it’s in Howick because it was a Howick and Pakuranga initiative.”
Following in her descendant’s footsteps, in 1999 Ms Ripassa applied to the Ministry of Defence to see if she could get Miss Haultain recognised elsewhere.
While her efforts proved unsuccessful, she’s pleased Sister Haultain’s service to the New Zealand war effort in World War One has been recognised.
“They couldn’t do anything official, but it was just nice that she was on the memorial. I’m pleased that she’s got some recognition, which she never got when she died.”
