Hamilton celebrant and journalist, Denise Irvine, chronicles the life and times of Yvonne Foreman, and the contribution she made to celebrancy in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
The colourful, stylish and multi-talented Yvonne Foreman died suddenly at her home in Te Awamutu during King’s Birthday Weekend, and her loss is profoundly felt by everyone who knew and loved her.
Yvonne’s death came barely two months after that of her beloved partner, Bill Lindberg. Yvonne and Bill had been together for about 25 years and Yvonne had been the closing speaker at his funeral on April 8, delivering a memorable tribute about finding love with him at a later stage of life.
She had planned Bill’s ceremony with care, as you would expect from a woman who was an accomplished celebrant and had played a pivotal role in the foundation of Celebrants Aotearoa. Yvonne had a thing about people speaking for too long at funerals – “going on and on” – so some tight timeframes were given to those involved in Bill’s farewell!
Yvonne was my dear friend over many decades and I had the privilege of officiating at Bill’s service. And then, so unexpectedly, at Yvonne’s ceremony, an uplifting event held in the Cambridge Town Hall on June 5. It was the perfect venue to farewell a woman who loved theatre, music and opera and where she had been on stage for several Cambridge Repertory Society productions.
The beautiful music for the service was chosen by Yvonne, as part of some instructions she’d left her family for an occasion such as this. There was a special treat that she didn’t plan, an accolade from two young University of Waikato student opera singers who she had a treasured connection with: Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono and his brother Jordan sang Time to Say Goodbye, joined by fellow singers Niamh Bentley and Katherine Winitana, with Carlee Hanna on piano. Faamanu and Jordan also spoke about their friendship with Yvonne, and the support she had shown them. There was a standing ovation in the town hall at the end of their splendid performance.
To step back to the beginning, Yvonne was born in Scotland, the only child of Jack and Greta Fox, and the family came to New Zealand in 1946. Yvonne shone in music and drama during her school years in Auckland and she was coached in singing by Dame Sister Mary Leo, famous for training some of the world’s top sopranos. She studied to be a teacher, married Victor Procuta, and the couple had five children, Antanas, John, Elena, Alex and Andrew. Yvonne was much loved by her family, including her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was later married to Mortie Foreman, and after Mortie’s death Bill Lindberg became her partner (as mentioned).
In their early years, Yvonne and Victor Procuta spent some time in Chicago and it was here that Yvonne began her long connection with La Leche League International, the organisation formed in 1956 to support women in breastfeeding at a time when bottlefeeding was the norm. Back home in Cambridge, she founded a La Leche group and became New Zealand’s first national league co-ordinator. In 1974 Yvonne received a Waikato Woman of the Year Award for this work and she also made valuable contributions to many more community services, business initiatives and music events, in the Waikato and beyond.
Yvonne was appointed as a marriage celebrant in the mid-1990s, it was a role she relished but she quickly became frustrated by the lack of coordinated resources and education programmes available to her and others. So in her inimitable style she put this to rights by organising a national celebrants’ conference in Hamilton, with excellent speakers and training workshops.
It was a hugely successful event and it led directly to the formation of the Celebrants Association of New Zealand in 1999, (nowadays Celebrants Aotearoa), our professional body that continues to go from strength to strength. Yvonne’s vision of greater support, training and resources for celebrants was well-fulfilled.
Yvonne chaired the Waikato branch CANZ committee for a number of years, she organised regional workshops and contributed at subsequent national conferences. She was also a much-admired and loved celebrant at weddings in the Waikato, until her retirement about a decade ago. With her organisational skills and personal flair, her empathy with couples, her ability as a wordsmith, her excellent sense of humour, and a voice that projected beautifully (of course), she was always a perfect fit at ceremonies.
Yvonne made numerous friends through CANZ, among them Wellington’s Pinky Agnew, the two of them connecting through their mutual interests in theatre and celebrancy. When Pinky was touring in 2010 with the show Grumpy Old Women, Yvonne held a superb party at her Hamilton home to celebrate Pinky’s engagement to Allan Abbott. Recalling the party, Pinky says, “Yvonne held ritual, celebration, friendship and manaakitanga that night. She held us all, in the most beautiful way.”
There was more to come: on the night of Pinky and Allan’s marriage, July 2, 2011, Yvonne hosted a dinner party for five fellow celebrants to toast the newly-weds, with all of us instructed to wear wedding finery. Pinky was notably absent of course, being the star at her own show in Wellngton!
On a sunny Friday, just a week before Yvonne died, I had lunch in Te Awamutu with her and another dear celebrant friend, Rei Hagan. We sat at a table outside Red Kitchen Café and Yvonne, who was 87, talked about her grief for her Bill but also said she had much to look forward to, and she was picking up on things that she’d put on hold during the time he was unwell. She was sparkling that day at Red Kitchen, elegantly and brightly dressed, as always, and full of plans. We hugged goodbye and said we’d catch up again soon, and Yvonne walked purposefully away.
It is a lovely memory to have. Arohanui, Yvonne.
