Fr Edmund Little, of the Archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand, died on Sunday 9th June at the Takaka Hospital.
Thomas Edmund Little was born on 15th Dec 1941 in Romford, Essex, England, son of Thomas James Lewis and Muriel Claureen Jones. He was educated at St Mary’s Prep School, Havering Road School, and the Royal Liberty Grammar School, in Romford, Essex.
He obtained B.A. (Hons) in Russian and French at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London in 1964, a Ph.D (Lond) 1972 in Russian Literature and B.Theol (Otago) in 1986.
He lectured in Russian Literature including Medieval period, Russian language and Orthodox Theology at the University of Hull, 1968 – 83.
Baptised into the Church of England soon after birth in 1941, he was received into the Catholic Church in November 1960 at Romford, Essex.
At London University he took active part in the University’s Catholic Society, serving as its Vice-President 1962-1964. In 1982 he came to Wellington for a teaching stint at Victoria University and while here sought to commence studies for priesthood for the Archdiocese. He began studies at Mosgiel in 1983.
Edmund was ordained to priesthood on 20 December 1986 at St Martin de Porres, Avalon, by Cardinal Thomas Williams. He worked at St Patrick’s, Masterton, and the Cathedral, in between lecturing in association with Massey University and the former Wellington Catholic Education Centre over many years.
He was Parish Priest at St Mary’s, Nelson from Feb 2001 to Jan 2006, and Parish Priest of Takaka from Feb 2006.
Edmund’s Vigil will be held at Sacred Heart Takaka on Thursday 13th June at 5pm, with Requiem at St Mary’s, Nelson, on Friday 14th June at 11am. He will be buried at the Takaka Cemetery at 3:30pm.