View source for Ruth Kirk

{{Short description|New Zealand prominent anti-abortion campaigner (1922 – 2000)}}
{{about|the New Zealand political figure||Ruth Kirk (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name             = Dame Ruth Kirk
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|size=100%|DBE}}
| image            =
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Kirk in 1969
| office           = [[Spouse of the Prime Minister of New Zealand]]
| term_label       = In role
| term_start       = 8 December 1972
| term_end         = 31 August 1974
| predecessor      = Margaret Marshall
| successor        = [[Glen Rowling]]
| birth_name       = Lucy Ruth Miller
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1922|4|28|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Taumarunui]], New Zealand
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2000|3|20|1922|4|28|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Christchurch]], New Zealand
| party            = 
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Norman Kirk]]|1943|1974|reason=[[Death of Norman Kirk|died]]}}
| children         = 5, including [[John Kirk (New Zealand politician)|John Kirk]]
| signature        = 
}}

'''Dame Lucy Ruth Kirk''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DBE}} (née '''Miller''', 28 April 1922 – 20 March 2000) was a New Zealand prominent [[anti-abortion]] campaigner. Her husband was New Zealand's [[List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand|29th Prime Minister]], [[Norman Kirk]].

==Biography==
[[File:Norman Kirk's House.JPG|thumb|The former Kirk family home in Kaiapoi is registered by [[Heritage New Zealand|Historic Places Trust]] as a Category I heritage structure]]
Lucy Ruth Miller was born in [[Taumarunui]] in 1922, the daughter of postmaster George Miller and his wife Margaret.<ref name="Dom obit">{{cite news | title='Fairer society' partner Dame Ruth Kirk dies | date=22 March 2000 | work=The Dominion | page=10 }}</ref> 

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, New Zealand|Devonport]], [[Auckland]].<ref name="DNZB Kirk">{{DNZB|Bassett|Michael |5k12|Kirk, Norman Eric|8 November 2012||Michael Bassett}}</ref> The couple were to have three boys and two girls, including [[John Kirk (New Zealand politician)|John Kirk]], who succeeded his father as MP for [[Sydenham (New Zealand electorate)|Sydenham]], and coastal geomorphologist Professor Bob Kirk.<ref name="Dom obit"/> 

In February 1944, they moved to [[Katikati]] in the [[Bay of Plenty]]. In 1948, they moved to [[Canterbury, New Zealand|Canterbury]].<ref name="DNZB Kirk"/> Her husband worked at [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]] (now [[Bridgestone]]) in [[Papanui]] and in the evenings and weekend, built their house in [[Kaiapoi]], where land was cheaper. During this time, she lived with her children at his parents' place in [[Christchurch]]. Once the house was finished, the family moved to Kaiapoi. On 28 May 1999, their house in Carew Street was registered by the [[Heritage New Zealand|Historic Places Trust]] as a Category I heritage structure.<ref name="NZHPT 7445">{{NZHPT|7445|Norman Kirk's House (Former)|24 April 2015}}</ref>

Norman Kirk was elected Mayor of Kaiapoi in 1953. He resigned from the mayoralty in January 1958 after having won the November {{NZ election link|1957}} in the {{NZ electorate link|Lyttelton}} electorate. The family moved to Christchurch in January 1958 to fulfil a promise to the Lyttelton electors.<ref name="DNZB Kirk"/><ref name="NZHPT 7445"/>

In 1974, she became patron of the [[Voice for Life|Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child]]. This caused a public furore, as her husband was Prime Minister at the time. Kirk joined protest marches in [[Wellington]] and [[Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton]].<ref name="NZH bio">{{cite news|title=Kiwis who left their mark on the nation|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=166858|accessdate=23 April 2015|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=29 December 2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=1970s marches: anti-abortion rally|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/28424/1970s-marches-anti-abortion-rally|last=|first=|date=2018|website=teara.govt.nz|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=11 May 2020}}</ref>

Her husband died in August 1974,<ref name="DNZB Kirk"/> and in the [[1975 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|1975 New Year Honours]], she was appointed a [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]], for public services.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46446 |date=31 December 1974 |page=37 |supp=3}}</ref> 

Three months after her husband's death, she put gifts given to him by foreign leaders up for auction, which sparked some public debate.<ref name="NZH bio"/> She was awarded the [[Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal]] in 1977.<ref name="Dom obit"/>

Kirk largely withdrew from public life in later years, but was famously remembered for ringing a Christchurch talkback radio show in 1993 to voice her fury at [[Helen Clark]]'s ousting of [[Mike Moore (New Zealand politician)|Mike Moore]] as Labour party leader.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ward |first=Kathleen |date=29 December 2000 |title=Kiwis who left their mark on the nation |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=166858 |newspaper=[[New Zealand Herald]] |location=[[Auckland]] |access-date=21 August 2016 }}</ref> 

She died from cancer in [[Christchurch]] on 20 March 2000,<ref>{{cite news | title=Dame Ruth farewelled | date=24 March 2000 | work=Waikato Times | page=3 }}</ref> and was buried alongside her husband at [[Waimate]] in South Canterbury.<ref>{{cite news | title='Kirk legacy' etched in NZ history | date=25 March 2000 | work=[[The Press]] | page=1}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/anti-abortion-march-wellington Photo of the 1974 Wellington anti-abortion march], led by Sir [[William Liley]], [[Diana Mason (doctor)|Dr Diana Mason]] (wife of [[Bruce Mason]]), Ruth Kirk, and Archbishop [[Reginald Delargey]]

{{Norman Kirk|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Ruth}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New Zealand]]
[[Category:New Zealand activists]]
[[Category:New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:New Zealand women activists]]
[[Category:People from Taumarunui]]
[[Category:Spouses of prime ministers of New Zealand]]