Maker: Susan Williams

Panel number: 492

Petition sheet number: Unknown

Person honouring: Jean Baxter Couper

Relationship to maker: Paternal grandmother

Jean Couper was born in the Nees Valley, Clevedon, New Zealand in 1872. Her mother was Christina, her father James Couper, one of the early pioneers of Clevedon who came from Scotland in 1865 on the sailing ship Viola.

In 1893 Jean was listed on the electoral roll as being resident in Opotiki and her occupation as ‘household duties’, suggesting she was a domestic servant. In 1896 she married James Wilson, who owned Stony Creek farm at Opotiki. 

Jean and James had one son and five daughters. They were married for 52 years. On their 50th wedding anniversary they presented a baptismal font to St John’s Church in Opotiki. They were both very involved with the church – Jean was a member of the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union and Busy Bees (the children’s group), as well as the Hospital Sunshine League (a patient welfare support group). The Sunshine League provided opportunities for women to be a part of public life and to establish social connections outside the domestic sphere. 

The panel shows Jean’s home, Stony Creek, which was on the edge of Opotiki township. Opotiki is situated by the sea between two rivers, the Waioeka on the left and the Otara on the right, as shown in the panel.

Jean died in 1963. She was 90 years old.

Panel materials: I used cotton quilting fabric – some I already had from previous projects, some I purchased.