Ngaire Steel

Ngaire Irene Steel was the only child of Mabel Jane and Herbert Elijah Barnes. She was brought up in a little house at the top of Aro Street in Wellington - Mount Pleasant. She went to school at Mt Pleasant Road Primary and later at Wellington Technical College. Mum excelled in music (piano) typing and shorthand and hockey. She played hockey as a Wellington Rep. The typing skills led her to office work a lot of her adult life. Ngaire married Bruce Selwyn Steel on 31st March 1950 and they had four children, David, Gary, Janet and Catherine. They spent the first seven years of their life together in Te Puke and then moved around New Zealand to different locations where Bruce worked for the NZED. They retired to their own home in Papamoa where Ngaire has lived for another 18 years after Bruce passed away. Ngaire spent the last 3 years in Malyon House Rest Home in Te Puke where she was cared for with her cat Mitzy.