Name Te Joy | Died December 16, 2011 | |
Te Paekiomeka Joy Ruha (21 February 1931 – 16 December 2011) was a prominent Māori leader and member of Māori Women's Welfare League. Of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent, she lived most of her life in Wellington.
A trained teacher, she taught Māori language for many years at The Correspondence School, enabling students whose schools did not offer the language to take in by distance education.
Since 1986, she had been kaumatua of Te Herenga Waka Marae at Victoria University of Wellington. She was a lifetime member of the Māori Women’s Welfare League and a foundation member of Te Atamira Taiwhenua, the national Maori advisory group to the Department of Internal Affairs. For some years she was a judge at the national kapa haka competitions.
In the 1988 New Year Honours, she was made a companion of the Queen's Service Order. In the 2006 Birthday Honours, she was appointed officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She was made a Hunter Fellow of Victoria University of Wellington in 2011.