Respected kuia Lady Raiha Mahuta has been laid to rest among her ancestors at Karetu marae in the Bay of Islands.
The Tainui claim co-negotiator and widow of the late Sir Robert Mahuta was returned to Ngati Manu after initially lying in state at Waahi marae in Huntly.
Labour list MP Kelvin Davis says about 400 people attended the service on Friday.
He says Ngati Manu was proud of Lady Raiha's achievements, but didn't realise the extent of her work for the Waikato iwi until she was brought home and they heard the details of everything she had done.
"Tainui are just glowing in their praise of the amount of work she did, how she managed to push things through, how she was [Sir Robert] Mahuta's backbone really," he told Waatea News.
"We're very honoured that they allowed her to come back and rest at the foot of her parents."
