A haka, waiata and music from Metallica bid former Porirua deputy mayor Kylie Wihapi farewell, as thousands from across the country, from local high school netballers to mayors, packed the city’s Te Rauparaha Arena on Saturday morning for her funeral.
Wihapi (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), 45, died last week in an accident at her Plimmerton home, after hitting her head in a fall. She is survived by her husband Adam, son Cooper, stepson Arama, parents Marlene Tuiri and Rob Rangi, her brothers and wider family.
Her wooden casket, sitting in front of the stage at the arena’s main stadium, had messages written on the sides and was surrounded with flowers and photos of her, her grandparents and pets.
In the crowd were family, friends, those from Aotea College and the Kapi Mana Netball Centre where she umpired and coached young players, as well as civic leaders from across the country, including the mayors of the Far North, Clutha and Kawerau districts, and councillors from Whanganui and Auckland, who knew Wihapi through national networks. Wihapi’s dog Raven also bid her farewell.
In their eulogies, Rangi and Tuiri remembered their daughter, a “chatterbox” who was an opinionated child that constantly asked questions. She was passionate about netball and a fierce protector of her younger brother, who was diagnosed with early infantile autism, from bullies and the ignorant, often facing up to people twice her size and “dressing them down”.
Wihapi was also remembered for her love for animals. She loved Istanbul in Türkiye from a recent holiday, Tuiri said, not because of the city’s history and architecture but for its legal protections of cats and dogs, an idea she thought it would be good to replicate at home.
Tuiri also had “no doubt” that her late grandparents Dawn and Eddie “snapped her up quickly when they found that she had passed the veil and moved on”.
“That gives me a lot of comfort that she is still with the people that she loved.”
Mayor Anita Baker said she never imagined she would be saying goodbye to her deputy and she still couldn’t believe that she was doing so. Saying she was “gloriously unfiltered”, Baker called Wihapi was her rock, dependable and reliable to the core, only slightly blemished by the fact that she always misplaced the deputy mayoral chains.
Calling her a “true daughter of Porirua”, Baker said she would miss Wihapi walking into her office, the weekly work colleague lunch that she organised, her unmistakable smile and the constant Facebook messages late at night.
“You were never one to stand back and wait for someone else to do the job, you just got on with it,” said Baker. “You made our city a better place and I will never forget you.”
Far North mayor Moko Tepania, who travelled south for the funeral, knew Wihapi through national networks of under-40 and Māori elected officials. He told Local Democracy Reporting Wihapi was a tuakana to him when he first elected in 2019, with her already completed a term of local government.
“We go through the same things, fighting the good fight for our communities across the motu,” he said. “I can honestly say that Kylie will have had a connection to someone from each and every single council up and down New Zealand.”
A private whānau service was held after the funeral, at Whenua Tapu cemetery.
Her tangihanga was held on Horouta Marae at Papakōwhai earlier on Thursday and Friday.
Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
