Dr Ronald Lawrence Whatu

Te Ao Hou, June 1966, Page 2

Dr Ronald Lawrence Whatu The death occurred recently at Seattle, Washington, of Dr Ronald Lawrence Whatu, formerly of Hamilton. He was 34. Dr Whatu was the son of the late Mrs Elizabeth Whatu, a prominent leader in the Hamilton Maori community who was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal for her work. Born in 1932, he was educated at Frankton Primary School and Hamilton Boys' High School before attending Victoria University of Wellington. At Victoria University he distinguished himself by becoming the first Maori to win a Hugh Jenkins Memorial Scholarship. This entitled him to study at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, U.S.A. Dr Whatu graduated from the four-year course after three years of intensive study and in 1959 married Miss S. Shindledecker. After teaching for some time at the school from which he graduated, Dr Whatu began to practise three months ago in Seattle, Washington. Dr Whatu is survived by his wife and two young daughters and by four brothers and five sisters.