Loris King
Topics: education, community events, community groups, local businesses, regional development, Pembroke Park
Loris was a newly qualified primary school teacher when she applied at Wānaka Primary School. She’d grown up in Central Otago but knew nothing of Wānaka before her teaching job in the 1950s. She recalls her early years, flatting with other young women, being escorted to dances, and playing sports with young local men before marrying Bill King and beginning a busy career as mother and businesswoman. In 1960, she and Bill won a land ballot for a prize section near the town’s centre where they built their home.
Together they established multiple visitor-based businesses on Helwick Street, including the Kingsway Diner, Wanaka Wines and Wanaka Wide Real Estate, which all flourished with the opening of the Haast Pass and Wānaka’s growing population. While Bill was involved in local government, Loris maintained the businesses and participated in local groups. With her home opposite Pembroke Park, Loris became an outspoken critic of the council’s plans to develop the Park. She founded a group to secure the park as a recreational reserve – which it remains as to this day.
Interviewed by Diana Cocks
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