Sister Marie Fitzpatrick
Sister Marie Fitzpatrick, of Dunedin, received the Queen's Service Medal, for services to the community. Sister Marie continues as an actively involved religious sister at 98 years of age. She has just celebrated her 75th year as a sister and is much respected in New Zealand and internationally for her work. She is still involved in caring for the elderly – most of whom are younger than she is – at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home and Hospital in Dunedin. She was Mother Superior of this Home from 1975 to 1981. She was then transferred to different Homes run by the Little Sisters and returned to Dunedin in 1992, when she was given lighter duties but remained very active. She lived and worked in China during the Sino-Japanese War and was a prisoner of war in France during the Second World War.