Heather Cardon, née McGruther, knew Sando as Aunty Peggy when she was young. Her mother Dede was good friends with Sando from when they were both in the New Zealand Women s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). But Cardon’s mother never told her Sando and McGruther had been close. ‘’Probably because it was sad. I imagined they consoled each other over things like that and did not necessarily speak to the kiddies about it. ‘’It was my mum who introduced her to Uncle Jock. She felt a lot about Aunty Peg otherwise she would not have introduced [Jock] to her friend.’’
RICKY WILSON/Stuff
Sando was in the WAAC during World War II and for a couple of years in the early 1950s. Sando joined the WAAC as an 18-year-old in July 1942. She was posted to the Northern Military District School of Instruction at Narrow Neck, on Auckland s North Shore, in the dental section. McGruther (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hikairo) was eight years her senior. He had been head boy at King s College, and played in the school’s First XV rugby team.
Supplied
Jock McGruther (seated, second from right) was head boy during his time at King’s College.