Fruitful partnership

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33806, 1 April 1975, Page 1

Fruitful partnership

(N.Z. Press Association} AUCKLAND, , March 31. When Sir Edmund Hil-, lary flew back to New Zealand in August, 1953, j after conquering Mount Everest he made one stop on the way — in Sydney. He called on a young woman studying the viola at the Conservatorium of Music, and asked her to marry him. The musician was Louise May Rose, the 22-year-old daughter of Mr J. H. Rose, an Auckland lawyer.

She accepted, a partner- j ; ship began that was to; have such a great bearing; on the lives of so many people ' I living in the mountains of i ‘ Nepal. ,! It was not until 1961, ; | when she led a party of . women on a “walkabout” expedition into the Himalayas, that Lady Hillary first met the 1 ; Nepalese, but after that she ; strove to help her husband . establish schools and hos-! pitals in the mountainous . country. Fund raising When she was not with her husband in Nepal she was at home in New Zealand arranging bazaars and other fund-raising ventures for the Himalayan Trust, set up by! Sir Edmund to finance the education and medical programmes. She also helped Volunteer Service Aboard and the; Tibetan Children’s Relief! Society. She recounted her many; travels around the world with . her husband and their three children in a number of

■ books. The first, “Keep Calm i If You Can," appeared in 1964 after an Alaskan tramp-j 'ling trip by the family. I ! i Other books she has writ-1 ten include “A Yak for; Christmas,” and “High Time,”' which recounted a family ■ trek in Nepal three years . ago. Broke leg Two vears ago in Nepal. Lady Hillary broke a leg during an international gathering to celebrate the I climbing of Mount Everest. Sir Edmund and Lady| Hillary were planning to stay; in Nepal this year while the new hospital was built. i With them was their son.' Peter, aged 20, and Belinda.! aged 16. Their other daughter.! Sarah, aged 18, remained in Auckland to study at university. Belinda was attending school at Katmandu and studying for her University I Entrance examination by correspondence. She was learning to speak f and write Nepali.