{"id":77094,"date":"2025-10-14T04:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/77094\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T04:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:48:08","slug":"northland-kuia-and-documentary-star-isey-cross-farewelled-at-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/77094\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland kuia and documentary star Isey Cross farewelled at 106"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt feels like they\u2019re back together, reunited,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIsey and James were like shining lights … I will miss them both an awful lot.\u201d <\/p>\n

More than 1500 people – including busloads of Northlanders – turned out to the premiere of the film at the Civic Theatre<\/a> in Auckland in 2021. <\/p>\n

It became the seventh-highest-grossing New Zealand documentary of all time. <\/p>\n

Habicht said he\u2019d had \u201ccomprehensive k\u014dreros\u201d with James ever since. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really good at keeping in touch and I\u2019d always say \u2018hi\u2019 to Isey when we had our k\u014dreros. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow they\u2019re both not around, it\u2019s a huge loss.\u201d <\/p>\n

Isey was born in K\u0101retu, near Kawakawa, on April 3, 1919. <\/p>\n

\"FilmmakerFilmmaker Florian Habicht said Isey was a shining light and held a special place in his heart.<\/p>\n

Her devoted son James celebrated each of her centenarian birthdays in style, including her 105th where she arrived at the Waitangi Golf Club in a pink Cadillac. <\/p>\n

The pair celebrated her 106th birthday<\/a> earlier this year with lunch at a Paihia restaurant followed by a party James organised at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club. <\/p>\n

At the time, Isey told the Northern Advocate she was feeling \u201cfantastic\u201d and credited her long life to: \u201cBeing with my family and being happy at all times\u201d. <\/p>\n

Nine days after the celebration, James died peacefully at Kawakawa Hospital, with family members, including his mum, at his bedside. <\/p>\n

Since then, another son Gavin Cross has been looking after Isey along with her caregivers. <\/p>\n

James and Isey were both shamans and descendants of Ng\u0101ti Manu, the Bird People. <\/p>\n

Gavin said Isey \u201cloved being on the water fishing and enjoying life and had lots of beautiful friends\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe never gave up. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was k\u0101mehameha [priceless].\u201d <\/p>\n

Gavin said his mother is survived by three of her five children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including Matiu Walters, lead singer of the band Six60.<\/p>\n

Habicht said he had a special connection with Isey, who consoled him when his father, internationally renowned Northland photographer Frank Habicht, died last October. <\/p>\n

\"JamesJames and Isey celebrated her 106th birthday in Paihia in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always say to her I\u2019m sending you hugs through the air, and she\u2019d say \u2018ka kete Florian\u2019 and wink. <\/p>\n

\u201cIsey would say few words, but when my dad died … she gave me some beautiful words on losing my dad and the loss.\u201d <\/p>\n

The New Zealand Film Commission also paid tribute to the centenarian on Facebook. <\/p>\n

\u201cEsteemed elder Isey, we at the NZFC are saddened by the news of your passing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe followed and celebrated your longevity in recent years, such a confident and astute woman of her community. <\/p>\n

\u201cJoin your dear son James and your ancestors. Rest well, farewell dear Isey.\u201d <\/p>\n

Isey will be farewelled at the K\u0101retu marae, also known as Ng\u0101ti Manu, on Friday.<\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt feels like they\u2019re back together, reunited,\u201d he said. \u201cIsey and James were like shining lights … I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59451,95,1975,17353,6179,2794,859,37235,10813,60083,18558,59450,60082,3025,111,43,139,1067,69,60084,2737,14907,10140,2963],"class_list":{"0":"post-77094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-59451","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-at","11":"tag-cross","12":"tag-died","13":"tag-documentaries","14":"tag-documentary","15":"tag-farewelled","16":"tag-grand","17":"tag-heartfelt","18":"tag-identity","19":"tag-isey","20":"tag-kuia","21":"tag-most","22":"tag-new-zealand","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-northland","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-pouring","28":"tag-star","29":"tag-successful","30":"tag-tributes","31":"tag-zealands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}