Airini Woodhouse

Airini Elizabeth Woodhouse (née Rhodes; 8 November 1896 – 13 April 1989) was a New Zealand community leader, historian, and author. Personal life Born Airini Elizabeth Rhodes, in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 8 November 1896, she was an only child. She was at first educated on her parents' remote sheep station by a governess and showed an early aptitude for writing. In 1913 she attended Craighead Diocesan School in Timaru. She grew up on Blue Cliffs, Canterbury, one of her family's other sheep-stations. She married Randal Woodhouse, then Medical Superintendent of Wellington Hospital, on 22 September 1921 at Upper Otaio and then moved to Wellington. There Randal immediately resigned from his position and by January 1922 he was in Timaru learning farming from the bottom up. They were to have three children, Elizabeth, Carne, and Heaton. Randal Woodhouse died on 1 October 1970 and she moved to her mother's house in Timaru. She died on 13 April 1989. Career Woodhouse joined the Red Cross during World War I and continued to work for them in World War II. She was president of the Blue Cliffs, Canterbury, sub-centre of the Red Cross during both wars, and was awarded a Voluntary Aid Detachment medal for service 1939–1945.