My Account
Remembered as a dedicated teacher, wife, mother and friend, Anthea was chair of the Board of Governors at Mahurangi College for 15 years, retiring when Tomorrow’s Schools was launched in 1995. Former college principals Alon Shaw and Rex Gray said Anthea was a respected board chair and they acknowledged how her guidance and quiet advice had been an invaluable to them during their time at the college. They described her as firm but very empathetic, commenting that no student had been expelled during her tenure.
Anthea was born in Christchurch and moved to Leigh with her parents, Hercules and Margaret Burleigh, and sister Virginia. She attended both Leigh and Matakana primary schools, and Warkworth District High School. After graduating from Ardmore Teachers Training College, she taught at Tauranga, Warkworth and Matakana.
With characteristic independence, she set-off on her OE in the early 1960s, spending two years teaching in London and travelling widely in England and Europe. A highlight of her trip was a journey on the Orient Express, from Paris to Constantinople (Istanbul).
By 1963, she was back teaching in NZ when she met and married Point Wells poultry farmer Hugh McKergow. Together they had four children – Fiona, Diana, Lucy and Angus.
In later years, Anthea was active in Warkworth U3A, leading several groups including Local History, Poetry and Food For Thought. She was also a long-standing book club member, a keen member of the Leigh Walking Group and a former member of the Kowhai Arts & Craft Society’s art group.
In a tribute to Anthea’s years as a teacher and her special dedication to children with learning disabilities, Delwyn Lawrence, of Ti Point, wrote: “For many years, Anthea was their advocate, a most devoted and skilled teacher, a community voice and a trusted and caring friend. Her determination to find a solution or pathway to every learning problem knew no bounds. She read widely, attended courses and left no stone unturned for her students who became ‘family’ to her. Anthea’s tenacity and persuasiveness opened doors into local schools so students would be taught within school hours, and raised awareness of this formerly unacknowledged disability.”
Anthea passed away quietly at home, in the care of her husband of more than 50 years, her children and their partners, and staff from Warkworth Wellsford Hospice.
