Newspaper Article 1999 – St John dame has died

St John dame has died

The Order of St John lost one of its most honoured members on Saturday, Patricia Imogen Peed of Napier.

Miss Peed died unexpectedly at Hawke’s Bay Hospital, Hastings. She was 74.

Miss Peed was a St John member for 35 years and became holder of its highest honour for women in 1993, Dame of Grace.

She was born in Taihape and started nursing at Taihape Hospital, which during the war was a training hospital. She completed maternity training at Te Puke and worked at Waikato Hospital before arriving in Napier in 1946. The rest of her nursing life she spent at Napier Hospital with brief stays away doing Plunket, midwifery and completing a diploma of nursing, She retired in 1985.

Miss Peed joined the Order of St John in 1964 and worked in administration. In 1978 she was made regional director of community services in charge of volunteers in the Ruatoria to Dannevirke district in which there were 12 divisions to be visited twice a year. She was promoted to officer of the order in 1979 and in 1984 was made commander of the order. She resigned as regional director in 1990.

Miss Peed once said the most enjoyable part of her St John work was the people in the organisation. Her other interests included playing golf, patchwork, and spending time with her nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be held for Miss Peed at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Tennyson St, Napier, tomorrow at 10.30am.

She is survived by two brothers, sister, nieces and nephews.

Photo caption – Miss Peed