Person:Mercia Hart (1)

Mercia Hart was born in Summer Hill, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and went to New Zealand around 1918. She was working at the Auckland Hospital that she met Thomas Maher and married.

During the Second World War years Mercia owned a small Home Bakery in Victoria Rd Devonport, often getting up at 4am to bake for the day. Her children helped her out at times. Times were tough, but enough was saved to buy their residence at 116 Victoria Rd Devonport.

In later years Mercia suffered from blood clots in her legs which were stabilized, but she always had to be extremely careful because if they moved they would have gone straight to the heart and killed her. Her husband Thomas, always knew this and was very protective of her.

Around the 1970's Mercia worked the odd days at a little shop which sold cheap knick-knacks and she always seemed to be bringing little things home. She was a great hoarder and never knew where she put things. She received a pair of slippers as a gift once, put them away until she needed them and never could find them again.

Mercia missed her husband terribly when he died and relied heavily on her daughter, Gloria. When she was in her 80's, it was noticed that she was losing a lot of weight although she had always been a big woman. It was soon realized that something was wrong. Cancer of the bowel was diagnosed. Mercia had an operation but lasted only 6 weeks after. She is buried at Glenfield Cemetary with her beloved "Frank", as she called her husband.