Obituary: Whaea Te Aroha (Aunty Losa) Holmwood
Aunty Losa’s gift of aroha spanned generations, denominations and communities
Whaea Te Aroha (Aunty Losa) Holmwood had deep connections with many sections of our community and those connections were celebrated at her tangi at Onetahua Marae last week.
She acted as a bridge between different groups of people and was widely admired for her aroha (love) and humility.
Born into the Ngati Hine iwi of the Far North on 7 November 1940 and baptised Te Aroha, Losa had a tough childhood.
“Her family were staunch in the Mormon faith so she had a very religious upbringing,” said Losa’s daughter Missy. “Her mother died in childbirth, having her, and her father remarried. It wasn’t a happy time for her. When she was 15, one of her aunties gave her enough money to run away.”
In her late teens she met Golden Bay man Sonny Holmwood in Wellington. Losa was playing the guitar and singing at a party and failed to pay much attention to Sonny. Family legend has it that he took the guitar away from her to make her chase him. She remained devoted to him until his death in 2003. Her desire to be buried in Golden Bay, rather than in her ancestral home in the North, stemmed from her wish to be reunited with Sonny.
In the 1960s a marriage between Maori and Pakeha was regarded by some people as something strange and somewhat inappropriate. Losa and Sonny and their five children, Wati, Phillip, Missy, Tumu and Trampus, made their home in Nelson and, for a long time, Losa paid little attention to her Maori heritage, according to Missy.
“When I was grown up I asked my mother why she hadn’t taught us about our Maori side. She said that the people around us didn’t want to know about it because they didn’t like it,” said Missy. “She certainly made up for it with her grandchildren.”
In the late 1980s Losa began to reassert her cultural self, first starting a kohanga reo (language immersion preschool) in her own home. That eventually developed into a fully fledged kohanga reo in Stoke. It is still thriving today and bears the name that she gave it - Kia Tau Te Rangimarie (Join Together in Peace).
Losa also began to devote renewed attention to spiritual matters, but her devout Christianity was totally non-denominational.
“She called every church her own,” said Missy. “As long as God was there, she felt at home. It didn’t always suit everybody else’s ideas but Mum went to every church there was and didn’t make distinctions. Her faith was what made her treat everyone the same. She was always looking out for the one who was feeling left out. She saw it as her job to make them feel wanted.”
Losa’s mana in spiritual matters was recognised by both Maori and Pakeha and she participated in blessings and ceremonies of all kinds in our community.
Losa and Sonny fulfilled a long-held dream by moving to Golden Bay in the early 1990s. From the start Losa demonstrated her love for the people of this community (and communities outside the Bay), taking particular time with anyone who was alienated or neglected.
She was involved with the Maori Wardens movement over the Hill. She also built a great relationship with Golden Bay High School, going in as a voluntary teacher aide to assist in matters of Maori language and tikanga (custom). She was also a “go-to person” for spiritual and cultural matters for the community, especially for Department of Conservation in Golden Bay.
“Losa was very supportive of the department’s work,” said area manager John Mason. “She enjoyed coming on our trips that involved iwi - like whale strandings. She would bless the whales before they were disposed of. She also taught a number of our female staff how to karanga (welcome-call) at the marae. Then, about four or five years ago she presented us with a panel she had woven out of pingao and kiekie. I guess that showed her respect and affection.”
The extensive involvement of Department of Conservation personnel in Losa’s tangi last week showed that the respect and affection went both ways.
Losa’s friend Glynn Rogers said that she was particularly inspired by her ability to treat people in a non-judgemental way.
“She connected with everyone,” said Glynn. “Nothing was ever yucky; there was always a good explanation for things. She’d had a tough childhood but she never dwelt on it, she just said that if she hadn’t had those experiences she wouldn’t have learnt what she did. She took a lesson out of everything. She’d say: “We’re all here for a reason – we may not know what the reason is, but there’s still a reason.”
Glynn also commented on Losa’s ability to be a bridge between Te Ao Maori (the Maori world) and the Christian world.
“She was sometimes quite challenged by that but she had some exceptional skills,” said Glynn.
Losa also performed a very important role supporting Manawhenua ki Mohua (the tribes of this region) and the Onetahua Marae, which welcomes people of all affiliations, local kaumatua (elder), John Ward-Holmes explained.
“She showed total commitment to the marae and to manawhenua. She’s a massive loss. Losa kind of grew into the role of kaumatua because she was so knowledgeable about tikanga and te reo. If I had to speak somewhere, I’d go and have a yarn with her beforehand. She was totally supportive and even though she wasn’t tangata whenua (the people of this place) she loved helping us to do the right thing. There aren’t very many people to learn from locally. I can’t believe she’s left us. She had such a broad view of things and she was happy to help out non-Maori too, if they wanted her to step in and share some of the spiritual understanding she was steeped in.
“If I had to sum her up in one word it would be aroha.”
Neil Wilson
