Maker: Alison Snook

Panel number: 167

Petition Sheet Number: 204

Person honouring: Lillie Harding

Relationship to makers: great-grandmother

The youngest of thirteen children, Alice Lilian (Lillie) Harding, my great-grandmother, grew up in Waipukura, Hawkes Bay. She spent her early married life in Northern Wairoa (on the Kaipara harbour) before moving back to Papatawa, Southern Hawkes Bay. 

Lillie lived at Mt. Vernon for 31 years with the family home playing a significant part in her life. The family still have the silver tea service the staff presented to Lillie as a wedding present. Lillie and two of her sisters-in-laws Maggie Harding, and Dee Harding all signed the petition; their names are the first three on the panel. Lillie travelled to Auckland to stay with her sister and received medical treatment, however she died of breast cancer and was buried there, age 40. She had two daughters, two grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.

Panel materials: The white fabric for the panel, and the white thread used for the lazy daisy stitches around the border, and the blanket stitch in the panel, belonged to Lillie’s daughters, Alice Berry (my grandmother) and Mary Brown.