photo by Harry Dansey Haere e te Ao Hou! In Memoriam: Hoani Waititi by Harry Dansey The telephone rang. My three-year-old son listened to it and said: ‘I suppose that's John Waititi. Is he coming to see us?’ No, son, not today and not tomorrow or any day, ever again. John Waititi is dead and the sorrow of it twists the hearts of all who knew and loved him. And those who knew and loved him must literally number thousands of people, of all ages, in every walk of life. How many homes are there like mine where a little child would run laughing to the door as the red Valiant pulled into the drive? How many homes are there where men and women, young and old alike, would throw open their doors for him with welcome on their faces and in their hearts? Perhaps there is some consolation in the knowledge that the loss is deeply and so widely felt, that in mourning and in remembering we draw closer one to another. On the morning of September 30 I sat at my desk and typed the saddest sentence I can remember writing in close on 20 years of work as a newspaperman. It read: ‘Mr Hoani Retimana Waititi, well known Maori education officer, died in Auckland this morning, aged 39.’ Then suddenly the keys blurred and the mind numbed and no more words came. But there is really no need to seek fine phrases to describe John Waititi's life of service. Merely to list the simple facts is enough. John was born at Cape Runaway in 1926, the youngest child of a well known family of that district. His father was Te Kuaha (“Dick”) Waititi and his mother Kirimatao Heremia Waititi. Her family name was Kerei. John's grandfather on his father's side was Te Manihera, a leader of his people in his day and an authority on the learning of other days. He was often consulted by Elsdon Best. John went to school at Cape Runaway and then was a pupil at St. Stephen's School and Te Aute College. Later he studied at Auckland University where he gained a B.A. degree.