RIA is the fifth born child of Tana and Digger Te Kanawa and has always kept active and proficient at all sports she has participated in, but as a child she was plagued with bouts of rheumatic fever. She got very sick as a 4-year old and would suffer for many years with bouts of painful joints.

Alongside her older brothers and sister Muri, Ria was firstly raised in Hospital Road.  This was a few doors down from the house of Ona and Pu Ball who had a family of similar size and ages.

Life in hospital Rd consisted of ????

When Ria was ??, the whanau moved to Oparure and Ria attended Oparure school which had a roll of ?? and the community was also made of families of similar size and ages. Family sizes of more than 10 were not uncommon at the time. Ria went on to Te Kuiti High School and excelled in commercial and administration classes and was a representative netballer outside class. On leaving high school, Ria worked at WoolWorths then as a Clerical Assistant for NZ Forest Service.

Classic school sweethearts, Ria and Eddie married at 18 and 17 respectively, and soon became new parents. Eddie secured a position on the Hydro so the family lived in Hangatiki for ? years. They bought their first departmental home for $10,000 in 1981 before transferring to Edgecumbe in 1988 where they bought their second departmental house for $51,000. In Edgecumbe, Ria picked up work as an Accounts and Office Merchandiser and continued to play squash, tennis, badminton and outdoor bowls.

The move to the Bay of Plenty, unfortunately, saw Ria and her whanau experience a major 6.5 earthquake on 7th March 1967 and an extreme flooding emergency incident in 2017. More than 2000 families were affected including Ria and Eddie’s house and their wellbeing.

Ria has always been a very strong community-spirited person volunteering for Play Centre, ( Hangatiki), Saint Davids Church Op Shop,  Lions Transport (Edgecumbe) Edgecumbe Squash & Waitomo Squash becoming Ladies club captain and Junior squash coach. Her community and whanau spirit see Ria as a current trustee for Te Kawa A6 and Marakopa 5D3BC1.

Raranga has become a huge focus and passion for Ria so she revels in being a member of Ngā Muka Rerehau Roopu which translates to fibres in the wind. This roopu is a group of collective weaver’s from around the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Te Arawa area.  Formed 2004 – by 2015 had gifted over  250 whariki for various marae within the areas mentioned. 2020 gifted whariki to two marae in the South Island, coinciding with the national weaving hui held in Christchurch 2021 Completed whariki for Whakarewarewa, (Rotorua)and  Wairaka Marae (Whakatane)