Mandi Kingsbury grew up on the family farm at Dorie, with parents Kelly and Barbara and her two older sisters Nikki and Jo. She attended Dorie School and Ashburton College, before heading off to complete a diploma in textile design at Wellington Polytechnic. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in about 2000, she died last month at the age of 53 after suffering a severe attack of the chronic disease while she was in Dubai.
Kelly and Barbara, who now live in Ashburton, are remembering the daughter who made them proud as she left home to fulfil her childhood dream of working in fashion. ‘‘She seemed to spend a lot of time sketching and colouring in when she was tiny,’’ Barbara said. As a teenager she made unique items from clothing bought at op shops, while a pair of black Dr Martens were ‘‘the love of her life’’.
She had also been ‘‘very practical’’ on the farm, enjoying helping her dad outside and in his workshop. At the age of about 14, she took to welding in the workshop, making many sculptures. Growing up, she had also been ‘‘mad on the animals’’, liking stock and caring for family pets.
The latter included a small collection of cats, which Kingsbury added to one night when she came home from babysitting. ‘‘Here was a kitten looking out the front of her blouse. We had about three or four cats as it was,’’ Barbara said.
While at Ashburton College, Kingsbury won an Ashburton mural design competition. Her creation was painted on to the for.