Elizabeth Ayliffe Tipping blazed a trail for women in the Anglican Church, fighting for the inclusion of divorced and single women.
Tipping, who died on March 24 in her 100th year, was the first woman in many roles within the Anglican Church’s Christchurch diocese. She was instrumental in founding the Association of Anglican Women in 1969, which was a break-away group formed to include divorced and single women.
Tipping was born in Oxford, England, and had four sisters.
“Both her parents always championed their five daughters’ right to be independent and to make the most of their talents in every possible way,” son Simon said.
She married Kiwi Pat Tipping in 1941 while he was in England serving in the Royal Air Force during the early years of World War II.
Marriage to an air force man meant life was unpredictable. The couple moved 14 times in their first two years together.
As soon as the war ended, the Tippings packed up their house, got on a troopship with their two young sons, a baby and a nanny, and moved RAF base in Singapore for three years.
In 1957, the family decided to return home to New Zealand where Elizabeth Tipping set up an interior decorating business in Christchurch. She worked for both corporate and private clients, but her career in public service began when she was appointed as a Mothers’ Union delegate to the National Council of Women, later becoming a member of its executive.
Tipping chaired the hospitality committee for the 1965 Christchurch Festival, arranging activities for artists. She then joined the Christchurch Civic Trust, where in 1967 she spearheaded the drive to rehabilitate New Regent St by repairing the run-down shops and painting the whole street in a dramatic and co-ordinated colour scheme emphasising the Spanish style.
Her contribution to the Anglican Church began in the late 1960s when she attended an annual meeting at St Mary’s Parish in Merivale.
“When a vacancy was announced for a parish representative on the Diocesan Synod, a friend suggested sotto voce that she should put her name forward. She whispered, ‘isn’t it always a man?’, to which her friend replied ‘not any more’ and nominated her,” her son said.
Tipping was elected and spent the next 30 years serving on the synod, later as the first female member of the Diocesan Standing Committee.
She also served on the Diocesan Social Services Council, the Church Property Trustees and the City Mission Social Work subcommittee. She sat on several national bodies including the General Synod of the Anglican Church and the St John’s Theological College Board of Governors.
Son Simon said in all these roles, she was valued for her clear thinking, warmth and ability to bring people together. Her long and wide-ranging service was recognised in 2006 by Bishop David Coles with a special award for national and diocesan church leadership, the same year she wrote her memoir An Unexpected Path.
She became the first diocesan president of the Association of Anglican Women, which was formed in opposition to the membership rules of the worldwide Mothers’ Union to exclude divorced and single women.
Tipping took on the role of explaining the advantages of being more inclusive to local branches of the Mothers’ Union.
“To her, it was so self-evident that men and women could and should do exactly what they were good at regardless of gender, but she had no sense of being a warrior or conducting a crusade,” Simon Tipping said.“She was undoubtedly one of the tall tōtara in the forest, one of the taonga, the treasures of our church, not just here but across Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Bishop Coles said Tipping broke the glass ceiling of the church for lay women. “She didn’t just break the ceiling, she smashed it. Elizabeth was a wonderful friend and supporter of clergy in this diocese and beyond. Don’t get me wrong, she also knew how to challenge clergy when they ignored the voice of the laity.”
He said Tipping would listen quietly and patiently at meetings before speaking her mind.
She had an obvious talent and skill in leadership and her life was a journey of commitment and service – not just on boards and committees but at the City Mission, Care of the Aged, and Children’s Homes.
Association of Anglican Women Christchurch president Judith Mackenzie said Tipping was a pioneer as the first woman in many of her roles within the Anglican Church.
She was also active on the National Council of Women.
“At her funeral held in the Transitional Cathedral, six former Diocesan Association of Anglican Women presidents attended, joining family and friends to give thanks for a great pioneering lay woman of the Christchurch Diocese,” Mackenzie said.
In her later years, Tipping lived at Holly Lea rest home, and when Mackenzie visited she would speak fondly about her family members, especially her eight grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
“Elizabeth Tipping was a gracious lady and a pioneer leader who lead the way for many to follow.”
