A woman who ‘held everything together’: Valarie Annette Langley (1947-2026)

Saturday, 9 May 2026

In 1968 a 20 year old woman from Hamilton sought a reference that might extol her virtues to potential employers in Europe. Valarie Teddy was about to embark on a two-year working holiday and requested a testimonial from Mr. J.C. Pollock, J.P., a gentleman who held her family in great esteem. Pollock wrote that Valarie was 'a young lady of high moral principles and engaging personality'.

If the expression reflected a certain quaintness and generational turn of phrase there could be no doubting the accuracy of the sentiment itself. A woman of faith and ambition and high work ethic, Valarie Langley, as she was to become, lived a rich, full life in the service of others: her family, her church and her Hamilton community. It was a measure of her character and her often behind-the-scenes achievements that her eulogy, heartfelt and carefully crafted, was read by the city's mayor and that another, equally knowing and respectful tribute was given by the Member of Parliament for Hamilton West. Both were former colleagues, men she worked with. A third, an Archbishop Emeritus and knight of the realm, celebrated Valarie with considerable eloquence.

A wife, a mother and a grandmother, Valarie Langley made substantial contributions to Hamilton's early childhood education, its Anglican church and the needs and welfare of its citizens. In the words of Sir David Moxon, 'her work was a vocation and a gracious form of loving discipleship…[she was] a minister of the gospel who was light, leaven and salt in whatever situation she found herself in'.

Valarie Annette Teddy was born 23 October, 1947 in Hamilton, the oldest of the three children of Stanley John Teddy and Harriet Amelia Teddy (nee Lynds). Early years on the family's Ōhaupō farm were happy ones, Valarie's distinctively positive personality and capacity for friendship evident from a young age.

Described as a 'perfect childhood' by Valarie's sister June, life revolved around family - both nuclear and extended - school and the local Anglican Church. Stanley's enthusiasm for the track and the training of horses to that end ensured an early interest in the equine and in race meetings. With assistance from a dressmaking godmother, family excursions to the races became an opportunity to model fashionable apparel.

Valarie had a love of animals, proudly showed off many champion calves at the school Calf Club and acquired all relevant rural skills. She could milk cows, ride horses and go eeling with confidence.

Attending Ōhaupō School from the age of 5 until 13, she was both an excellent student and an accomplished athlete. Known for her turn of pace, she led the basketball team and was house captain of Gold House.

From 1960 to 1964 Valarie completed her secondary education at Hamilton Girls' High School, attaining University Entrance. A friend from this time described her as 'a sensible, studious girl' one to be respected for 'her integrity, Christian values and plain common sense'.

Initial employment was secured in 1965 as a court stenographer for the Justice Department. Valarie continued in the job for three years, then departed for Europe in the company of her close, lifelong friend Jocelyn Pedersen, an exact contemporary and fellow Anglican.

The first year of the holiday Valarie and Jocelyn were based in London, working in the Law Society as private secretaries, whilst exploring the city and the wider United Kingdom. Together with two other New Zealand friends the pair then embarked on a three month tour of the Continent, driving their own car and utilising a tent. This excursion culminated in a further five months in Denmark, where Valarie assisted a family with four children and also found work driving new and hire cars to and from Copenhagen and other parts of Europe.

Valarie returned to Hamilton in 1970, taking up a position at the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. She had not been back in the country long before making the acquaintance of Morrinsville electrician Bruce Langley at a Young Nationals function in Matamata. Bruce's efforts to progress their nascent friendship were stymied in the short term because of the number of Teddys listed in Waikato phone books. As things blossomed into romance the relationship survived an unfortunate incident involving his mother backing into Valarie's bright red Mini and his father's subsequent, well-intentioned efforts at amateur panel beating.

Valarie and Bruce were married on 15 April, 1972 in Cambridge, an event which Bruce's sister describes as a 'beautiful wedding…at which Valarie looked stunning'.

Valarie continued working at the NZBC until 1976, when her and Bruce's first child, James, was born. They would later have a daughter, Lizzie.

As a mother Valarie had high expectations for her children but was also, as Lizzie says, 'realistic, caring and loving throughout our whole life', with a 'gentle way of encouraging and supporting'. She was, says James, a person who 'always said yes' to any requests for assistance or advice. As a grandmother she was attentive and loving, attending births, birthdays and every significant sporting or cultural event in her grandchildren's lives, travelling as far afield as Hong Kong or Brunei to do so.

Valarie resumed her formal education in the late 1980s, at the University of Waikato, completing a Diploma of Teaching in Early Childhood Care and Education and a Bachelor of Education. In 1992 she began her new career as a kindergarten teacher at Deanwell Kindergarten. In 1999 she was appointed head teacher at Miropiko Kindergarten.

Valarie's strengths as an educator were those of her essential character: empathy, a quiet, calm manner and capacity for encouragement and thoughtfulness. They were equally evident in her extensive voluntary work with many community organisations, including the Hamilton Parents' Centre, Hillcrest Kindergarten, Tamahere School, St. Paul's Collegiate School and the Hamilton Girls' High School Old Girls' Association, which she served for a period as its president.

Valarie's decades-long involvement with the Anglican churches of Hamilton extended to a multitude of roles in different locations. At St Stephen's in Tamahere she taught Sunday School and served as a Vestry member, Synod member and Vicar's Warden. She was a lay Synod Secretary for the Diocese of Waikato, serving on the Anglican Social Services Committee and in additional capacities. Eventually she would become the chaplain and secretary to Bishop, later Archbishop, Sir David Moxon, a role she cherished and considered an enormous privilege.

One colleague from this time, with whom she shared an office, was the Reverend Amanda Bradley, who was to write of how challenging the role was and how magnificently that challenge was met, saying, '…I assure you that Valarie was a saint'.

If that assessment was accurate, her final career choice demonstrated some capacity for sinners, also. In 2014, Valarie left the office of the Archbishop for a temporary appointment in that of Tim Macindoe. It was a temporary position that was to last for six years, until the voters of Hamilton West felt like a change.

A longstanding member of the New Zealand National Party, Valarie had clear ideological sympathies and was by nature a tremendously loyal servant. By the same token, when it came to sensitivity to the situation and needs of constituents her commitment transcended party politics. Says Macindoe, 'she always went the extra mile to help people, and was sincere, compassionate and determined'.

Hours were spent with constituents, no matter the nominal time allotted for such meetings. Saturday morning engagements in the Hamilton West MP's caravan, at the height of winter, were occasions for careful note taking. When delegated the tasks of columns, letters of congratulations, appeals to ministers and advocacy for projects, Valarie's work was always 'beautifully written'. She could also be relied upon for her baking wares on Fridays in the electorate office, serving scones, pikelets or muffins, accompanied by jam in 'dainty saucers', impeccably presented on a 'lovely tray', having earlier ironed the table napkins.

Valarie's dedication to the job was such that allocated hours meant next to nothing. More than once Macindoe was forced to turn the office lights out to gently encourage a downing of tools.

Beyond work that was strictly speaking that of Parliamentary Services, after hours Valarie would toil voluntarily in a political capacity, distributing pamphlets or holding placards aloft singing the praises of Macindoe or Tama Potaka, no matter the weather.

Losing her position in 2020, collateral damage of Macindoe's electoral defeat, Valarie and her colleagues were reinstated in late 2022, after Potaka won the by-election that followed Gaurav Sharma's expulsion from the Labour Party. For Potaka, she was 'loyal like no other' but also 'the very epitome of manaaki'. Her capacity to 'encourage someone else's mana - their identity, their personality', no matter their party affiliation, was an essential aspect of her personality. With constituents she always made the time and the effort to engage with whatever issues they might have, 'an active listener', with 'elder wisdom', measured and careful in her pronouncements, 'with the serenity to stay silent at times'.

In a funeral not short on notable speakers, Tama Potaka's wife, Ariana Paul, spoke as beautifully as any when she said of Valarie, '…she was a constant, a quiet strength, a presence that held everything together…her love was not loud but it was everywhere, in the way she cared, in the way she listened, in the way she showed up, again and again…'

Valarie Annette Langley died 11 April, 2026, suddenly at her Hamilton home. She is survived by Bruce, her husband of 54 years, children James and Lizzie and grandchildren William, Milly, Oliver, Jasmine and Marco.