Tararua Funerals

24/08/2025

Another page turns and we continue to evolve and keep up with trends . Our new catering options created by Kererū Kitchen

20/08/2025

In every ending is a hidden beginning.
Within every loss is a seed of transformation.

17/08/2025

A family we cared for back in 2021 who lost both their elderly parents with in 4months of each other, have shared with us these beautiful pictures of how well their Kowhai trees are flowering and have grown since we gifted them to the family after the funeral.
We love that they stand as a special memorial to their parents.

15/08/2025

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Margaret Susan McGregor. Please use the link below for the details of Margaret's Funeral.
https://www.tararuafunerals.co.nz/blog/2238229

11/08/2025

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Ellen Ngarangi Kamaia Puhipuhi (Elle) . Please use the link below for the details of Elle's Funeral. https://www.tararuafunerals.co.nz/blog/2238076

07/08/2025

Our third team member profile update

Courtney joined the Tararua Funerals team at the beginning of 2025, as an assistant Funeral Director fulfilling a lifelong aspiration to work in the funeral industry.

Courtney is loving being a part of the Tararua Funerals team and feels very lucky to serve the community in this role. She has already shown a real passion for learning about the funeral industry, along with a natural compassion that brings comfort to families during their most difficult times and hopes to start the Diploma in Funeral Directing at the beginning of 2026 to gain her qualification.

Courtney is married to her incredibly supportive husband Johnny. Outside of work she enjoys running, being active and spending time with her two young children.

06/08/2025

Our 2nd Team Member profile
Rita Brown
Principal Embalmer

Rita has worked at Tararua Funerals since 2003. Her primary role is as an Embalmer, and she holds a NZ Diploma in Embalming (Level 5) since 2018.

This is highly specialised work, and Rita is dedicated to providing quality care for the deceased. She is passionate about her work and takes pride in every aspect of it.

Rita has lived in Dannevirke most of her life. She’s married to her supportive husband Kim, and together they have 7 adult children and 10 grandchildren. They enjoy spending time with family and embracing life’s journey.

06/08/2025

Updating the teams profiles over the next few days, incase you don't know who we all are at Tararua Funerals. Big shout out to Chelsey Wallace Photography for the new photos.

Tracey is a qualified and experienced Funeral Director, starting work in the industry in 2005 and since 2007 holds a NZ Diploma in Funeral Directing (Level 5).

Tracey loves her job and feels passionate about the funeral industry. After a 20-year career as a Dental Technician, she now knows she’s in the right place — helping people. She purchased the business in 2018 after working as an employee there for 14 years, and always strives for excellence for the families she looks after. Tracey is also a Justice of the Peace and happy to help the community with this service too.

Tracey has an exceptional life partner in Ross, locally born and bred, who is extremely supportive. She’s also a proud mum to three wonderful young men and their families and 'Nante' to five beautiful grandchildren. She enjoys supporting them all as they grow and navigate life.

26/07/2025

Beautiful words

If they could knock on your door tonight, you know exactly what they’d say.

They’d look at the way you’ve been barely getting through the days—the tight jaw, the hollow eyes, the way you cancel plans you might’ve loved—and they’d say,

Please don’t lose the rest of your life because I lost mine.

They were your loudest cheerleader when they were here.
The one who told you to go for it, to book the trip, to make memories, to say yes. The one who believed in your goodness, your grit, your future.
That didn’t end when they left.
Love doesn’t pack up and go.
It becomes the hand on your back you can’t see anymore, still nudging you forward.

I know it hurts.

I know joy feels like treason.

Like if you laugh too hard, smile too long, breathe too easily, it means you’ve forgotten.
But you haven’t.
You won’t.
The love you shared is stitched into you.
Grief is proof of it—and so is joy.
Both are love, just wearing different faces.

No one told you that healing would feel like betrayal at first.
That you’d have to dig through the rubble to find one small bright thing and let yourself hold it without apologizing.
That moving again would take strength you don’t think you have.
That it would be easier to stay in the darkness, because at least it’s familiar.

But listen: they didn’t spend their life loving you, so you’d spend the rest of yours standing still.

So, start small.
Let the sun hit your face and don’t rush back into the shade.
Say yes to coffee.
Walk where the air moves.
Play the song you both loved and let the tears come, and then—when they’re done—let the warmth of the memory land, too.
Let joy and pain sit at the same table.
They can.
They will.
That’s how you carry them with you.

You are not leaving them behind when you choose to live.
You are taking them along for everything they always hoped you’d still get to see.
Every laugh, every step forward, every quiet moment of peace—they are in it, because they’re in you.

This is how you honor them.
Not by shrinking.
Not by staying in the dark.
But by choosing, again and again, to live a life they’d be proud of.
Because they would want that for you—always.
Forever.

22/07/2025

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Kevin Edward Isaacson. Please use the link below for the details of Kevin's Funeral.
https://www.tararuafunerals.co.nz/blog/2237500

16/07/2025

Wonderful to attend this conference and to be part of such an enthusiastic like minded group