b. 2 October, 1944, d. 27 July 2019

Josephine (known as Josie) Knight attended Wellington Girls’ College from 1957 to 1961. In her years at the school, she particularly enjoyed English and Italian classes, as well as the opportunities to participate in music, drama and fencing (with the boys at Wellington College).

Despite her mother’s half-humorous but Victorian advice, “Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever…”, Josie was determined to pursue her education at university. She completed a BA at Victoria University, majoring in Italian and English, with Philosophy and French as her second subjects. Her years at Victoria saw her working hard at her studies but also holding down a part-time job teaching English at the English Language Institute, and participating in a range of dramatic pursuits. She was President of the Drama Club when the club was charged in a private prosecution for putting on an "obscene" play - Lysistrata. Happily, Professor Gordon and others at Vic were able to defend the integrity of the production, and Josie was not put behind bars! In 1965, she acted in a TV adaptation of The Evening Paper by Bruce Mason. As one of the very early pieces of televised New Zealand drama, the play had a mixed reception, possibly in part, Josie felt, because it implied that there was some complacency in New Zealanders’ view of themselves.

Josie was made a junior lecturer at Victoria in 1968 and then, having been lucky enough to win a government Postgraduate Scholarship, left New Zealand to study English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She later recalled that, “As a graduate student I was older than many of the girls at LMH and happily untouched by their inbred snobbery”, adding, “I was very, very glad to have been born in New Zealand which had given me an independence of spirit and the freedom not to cower before authority.”

Arriving at Oxford in October 1968, “where the English students were doing a pale imitation of mai soixante-huit” (Josie’s words), she furthered the political education begun in New Zealand in the midst of protests against the Vietnam War, by attending some lectures on Marxist economics and going along to one or two meetings of the Trotskyite group to which Vanessa Redgrave belonged. Josie quickly became disillusioned by the tactics of this group, and from then on, embraced politics of a gentler but still left-wing variety.

By choosing to do a B.Phil at Oxford, Josie had intended to try to become a full-time university lecturer. However, she found the dons at Oxford somewhat “lack-lustre” after some outstanding lecturers at Vic, and this, along with a desire to be economically independent, inspired her to enter the “real world” in the form of a career in publishing. She worked in this field for a number of years, with considerable success.

In 1973, she married Perry Karavasil, “a delightful Greek man”, twelve years her senior, with six children. They had a very happy marriage, and she felt that her husband was a tremendous support to her in her work.

In 1980, the couple moved to Geneva, where Josie had landed a job as an editor at the International Labour Office (ILO), a specialised agency of the United Nations. She worked for 18 years in Geneva, living across the border in much-loved France, and taking holidays in Europe and New Zealand. At the ILO, she began as an editor, became section head and then Head of Publications before being asked to take up a more political role as Director of the ILO Office in India. Finally, when her husband’s illness with cancer took the couple back to Geneva for treatment, Josie was made Head of Translation, administering the work of the several language teams (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic). She was also nominated to several of the ILO’s Boards.

After her husband’s death in 1997, Josie worked for another year before deciding to take unpaid leave and subsequently early retirement. She wanted to start on all the things she had put off “until retirement”, along with further travel, such as touring Italy, Greece and Turkey by car and Northern Thailand by motorbike.

In 2000, Josie returned to Wellington, where her mother and two brothers still lived. From here, she remained in contact with her husband’s six children and seven grandchildren who live in the UK and America. She spent her time reading, driving for the Cancer Society, collecting books, gardening, walking, doing research for various internet sites and sometimes visiting her French house. She made up for her many years of living in a land-locked part of rural France by residing in Plimmerton, buying a share in a boathouse and becoming a qualified “dayskipper”, so that she would know how to read the tides, winds and sky. She also played Croquet and taught Tai Chi, and was Treasurer for the Poetry Society Committee.

Josie died in July this year. Not only was she a former student and Head Girl of Wellington Girls’ College herself, but she also has many family ties to the school. Her mother, Joyce Knight (née Reviers) attended the school. Her sister-in-law, Jocelyn (Jo) Knight, was a Maths teacher here for many years. Josie’s niece, Libby Schumacher-Knight, also taught at the school, and another niece, Lynda Knight-de Blois, attended Wellington Girls’ herself. In the next generation, Josie’s Great Niece, Ella de Blois, was a student here from 2012 to 2016.

Josie is very much missed by all who knew her. In the words of Lynda Knight-de Blois, “We still continue to miss this amazing woman, but she gave us many lovely memories and words of encouragement to last a lifetime.”

Compiled by Janet McCallister, from a document by Josie, entitled “My Autobiography.”

Thanks to Libby Schumacher-Knight and Lynda Knight-de Blois for additional information.