Before moving to Christchurch in about 1996, Nelson-raised Maureen Thomson lived in Queenstown for about 25 years after earlier stints in Invercargill and Alexandra.
For a long time she brought up six children — Dale, Desley, Sandra, Tony, Glen and Craig — by herself after her first husband, Bill Smith, left her.
Kids’ author Craig Smith, of Wonky Donkey fame, says his mum applied for and was granted Queenstown’s first state house, in Douglas St.
Her jobs included housekeeping at what is now Crowne Plaza, cooking at the former Stanley St maternity hospital and then owning, in succession, The Green Apple cafe, in the CBD, and Frankton’s Frenz Cafe.
"At the maternity hospital she would make extra food before she left and say to the ladies, ‘if you get snackish you can come down to the kitchen’," Smith says.
Her community work included making weekly lunches for Senior Citizens Association members and organising entertainment for children, and she was also a carer for much-loved doctor’s widow, Molly Anderson, who lived to 103.
"She looked after loads of people," Smith says.
Maureen met and eventually married, in ’92, local signwriter Bill Thomson, who was also very community-minded.
She supported his work as chairman of the 1990 community committee which buried a time capsule in the Gardens, and, also in the Gardens, helped him lay the groundwork, with big support from the Lions Club, for the restoration of the derelict band rotunda.
Maureen was one of the first local people awarded a civic honour in ’93 for her voluntary community service.
Bill died in ’95, and about a year later she left for Christchurch, initially to support her ailing mum.
A celebration of Maureen’s life is being staged this Sunday — first at the band rotunda, at 4pm, followed by refreshments at the nearby bowling club.
