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The Golden Lamp Press
Issue 7, November 2022
IN MEMORIAM Memoriam By: Isabelle Mak
Katie Haynes (Feature Writer and Rainy Day Activities Editor), Charlotte Thomson (Feature Writer), Nuala Pearson (Feature Writer), Juliet Grotrian (Feature Writer) Kitty Grotrian (Feature Writer), Isabelle Mak (Feature Writer and Editor), Senali Vasanthathilake (Editor and Feature Writer), Harriet Mak (Feature Writer), Sophie Counsell (Feature Writer), Nina Vincent (Feature Writer) Email golden.lamp@qmc.school.nz
"I remember nine years in the most challenging and most rewarding position of my career…" said Marion McCree for QMC's 2019 'Te Karere'. Those nine years is referring to the time Marion served between 1977 and 1986 as QMC's 9th principal. Marion Constance McCree was born on the 23 July 1936 in Christchurch to Alma Constance and Charles Jeffery McCree. She had one older brother called Keith Jeffery who would go on to gain a doctorate degree and become the founder of the term "Photosynthetic Active Radiation." She lived at 16 Mersey Street in Christchurch. Her neighbour and friend, Natalie Sorensen Blackie, remembers Marion as a treasured childhood friend who let her help in the garden, feed cats and chat non-stop. Marion attended St Margaret College in Christchurch during the 1940s and early 1950s. She then went to the University of Canterbury and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree before carrying on to gain a Masters of Arts degree with First Class Honours. She then pursued a career in teaching. At the age of 30 in 1966, she left New Zealand to teach in London. When she came back to New Zealand she taught at Naenae College and then at Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College as Head of the English Department. While she was teaching there, an opportunity popped up on the other side of Wellington Harbour. Nancy Black, the principal of QMC had just resigned and QMC needed a new principal.
Kung Fu elective class in the Old Gym (1980)
Marion had never heard of QMC before she saw the advert but she jumped at the chance and on the 23rd of May 1977 the press announced that she had been appointed QMC's new principal and was to start in Term 2. Marion led many changes at QMC, modernising the curriculum and introducing elective classes in 1979. Driving, fitness, kung fu, pottery, carpentry, computer and elegance classes were all available. Marion had the honour of holding QMC's 60th jubilee in 1979 with four past QMC's principals at QMC's 60 years jubilee (Marion McCree, principals attending. In her last few years at Muriel Eaves, Irene Wilson, Nancy Black and Molly Gambrill) QMC Marion helped plan the new Wilson Wing which still stands today. She helped the board gain government funding and demolish the old Wilson House. Marion left QMC in term four of 1986, QMC's third longest serving Principal of 9 years. On the 27th of July 2022 she passed away. Her funeral was held at Old Saint Paul's and her service was held by Ken Edgecombe a previous Chaplin at QMC who retired last year. Voces Luce sang at her funeral moving many to tears. Marion was a friendly, humorous, and brilliant woman who helped lead QMC for nine years. She modernised the curriculum, encouraged sports and the arts, introduced elective programmes. She has well and truly made her mark.
Marion on Hobson Street outside QMC References:2019 Te Karere, Royal Society Te Apārangi, Legacy.com, PapersPast, Google Maps, Canterbury Museum, New Zealand Archives, 90 years of Queen Margaret College 19192009, QMC Facebook, Tributes Online, Family Search, Ancestry, 1986 Te Karere, 1979 Te Karere, 1990 Te Karere, 1982 Te Karere, Births Deaths Marriages New Zealand (BDM NZ)
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