Ruth Kirk

Dame Lucy Ruth Kirk (née Miller; 28 April 1922 – 20 March 2000) was a New Zealand prominent anti-abortion campaigner. Her husband was New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Norman Kirk.

Biography

Lucy Ruth Miller was born in Taumarunui in 1922, the daughter of postmaster George Miller and his wife Margaret.

She met her future husband, Norman Kirk, at a blind date in Paeroa; she was his first partner. On 17 July 1943, they married at Holy Trinity Church in Devonport, Auckland. The couple were to have three boys and two girls, including John Kirk, who succeeded his father as MP for Sydenham, and coastal geomorphologist Professor Bob Kirk.

Norman Kirk was elected Mayor of Kaiapoi in 1953. He resigned from the mayoralty in January 1958 after having won the November in the electorate. The family moved to Christchurch in January 1958 to fulfil a promise to the Lyttelton electors.

Her husband died in August 1974,

Three months after her husband's death, she put gifts given to him by foreign leaders up for auction, which sparked some public debate.

She died from cancer in Christchurch on 20 March 2000, and was buried alongside her husband at Waimate in South Canterbury.