Muriel Wallace May. Freshly Remembered: Half a Century of School. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1973.
Muriel Wallace May (1897-1982) was a Dunedin-born educationalist. She attended High Street School, Otago Girls’ High School (1911-13), Dunedin Teachers’ College and the University of Otago. She taught at Columba College and OGHS, specialising in English and French, and gained a reputation as a thorough and stimulating teacher with a sharp tongue.
In 1941, May became principal of Southland Girls’ High School, a position she held until her retirement in 1956. An accomplished public speaker, she knew every girl by name in her orderly and disciplined school. In 1976, she was awarded the OBE for her contribution to education and literature.
May also had a literary career, writing a weekly column in the Evening Star under the pseudonym ‘Panache’. In retirement she wrote several books, including her autobiographical Freshly Remembered, a history of St Hilda’s Collegiate School, and a study of a cat Miranda.
Muriel Wallace May. Freshly Remembered: Half a Century of School. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1973.
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