Ruth Kirk

Dame Lucy Ruth Kirk DBE (née Miller, 28 April 1922 – 20 March 2000) was a prominent anti-abortion campaigner. Her husband was New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Norman Kirk.

Lucy Ruth Miller was born in Taumarunui in 1922, the daughter of postmaster George Miller and his wife Margaret. 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, Auckland. The couple were to have three boys and two girls, including John Kirk, who succeeded his father as MP for Sydenham, and coastal geomorphologist Professor Bob Kirk. In February 1944, they moved to Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. In 1948, they moved to Canterbury. Her husband worked at 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 Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage structure.

Norman Kirk was elected Mayor of Kaiapoi in 1953. He resigned from the mayoralty in January 1958 after having won the November 1957 election in the Lyttelton electorate. The family moved to Christchurch in January 1958 to fulfil a promise to the Lyttelton electors.

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