Hawkes Bay Death Notices: Latest Hastings, Napier Obituaries

When someone we know passes away, finding the right words to say goodbye—and the right place to learn about those who’ve gone before us—matters more than most people realize. For families in Hawke’s Bay, that search often starts online, scrolling through listings that feel both familiar and deeply personal. This guide pulls together every major source for death notices across Hastings, Napier, and the wider region, so you spend less time hunting and more time remembering.

Primary Source: Hawke’s Bay Today · Total Notices: 1,307 on record · Aggregator: A Memory Tree · Major Funeral Homes: Beth Shan, Dunstalls, Simplicity

The table below maps the key sources available for Hawke’s Bay death listings, from newspaper portals to funeral home directories.

This week’s death notices Hastings

Sources for Hastings notices

Hastings families looking for death notices have two main routes. The first is Legacy.com’s Hawke’s Bay Today obituary portal, which hosts search by name, date range, and keyword. The second is the NZ Herald’s dedicated death notices section, which carries notices that also appear in print. Dunstalls Funeral Services Ltd maintains its own searchable tribute system at dunstalls.co.nz, listing services by date.

Recent listings

One recent listing confirmed via Dunstalls: Rodney Eric (Rod) Carson died at Hawke’s Bay Hospital, Hastings on 18 November 2024. Sylvia Frame’s memorial service was held at St Columbas Church, Taradale on 8 April 2026. Both appear in Dunstalls’ searchable database alongside dozens of other Hastings-area listings. Simplicity Hawke’s Bay also carries regional obituary records, including Corrine Christian (1953–2024) and William Chalklen (1945–2024).

This week’s death notices Napier

Napier-specific notices

For Napier, Beth Shan Funerals is a primary source. The firm operates three locations across Hawke’s Bay—Napier, Taradale, and Hastings—and maintains an upcoming funerals page at beth-shan.co.nz/upcoming-funerals. Beth Shan’s contact number is (06) 835 9925 for families seeking direct assistance. The firm provides facilities including a modern chapel, catering services, and private family rooms.

Beth Shan listings

Recent confirmed Beth Shan listings include Graeme Michael Maloney (1947–2026), whose funeral service was held on 21 March 2026. Michael Douglas Scott’s private service was held on 19 January 2026, with a memorial gathering at East Pier Hotel in Napier on 24 January 2026—Scott was remembered for his love of surfing and the ocean, per Dunstalls’ tribute page. For Napier-specific notices beyond the funeral homes, Legacy.com provides a searchable filter that lets users narrow by location.

Death notices Hastings NZ

Local sources

Finding death notices in Hastings comes down to three tiers of sources: primary publications, funeral home listings, and aggregation platforms. Hawke’s Bay Today via Legacy.com remains the most comprehensive single source for the region, holding 1,307 notices and offering name-based and date-range searches. Dunstalls Funeral Services and Simplicity Hawke’s Bay provide the funeral-home angle, listing services and obituaries with more biographical context than the newspaper portals.

Search tips

When searching for Hastings notices, start with a name or date range on Legacy.com. If you know the funeral home involved, cross-reference with their specific site—Beth Shan, Dunstalls, or Simplicity—to find service details, venue addresses, and obituary text. For real-time updates across multiple papers, A Memory Tree aggregates Hawke’s Bay notices as they appear daily.

Death notices for today

Today’s updates

For same-day or near-real-time updates, A Memory Tree is the fastest option. The platform aggregates death information from all daily newspapers in New Zealand in real time, including Hawke’s Bay Today. This means notices that appear in print or online during the day show up on A Memory Tree within hours, making it the closest thing to a live feed for Hawke’s Bay death listings.

Real-time aggregators

Beyond A Memory Tree, Legacy.com allows browsing by “recent” or “today” filters, showing the newest additions at the top of each session. Dunstalls’ search page also sorts by most recent, listing upcoming services alongside completed ones. For families needing to confirm a listing has gone live, checking all three—the aggregator, the regional portal, and the funeral home—covers the bases.

Death notices Waipukurau

Waipukurau notices

Waipukurau, as a smaller center in Central Hawke’s Bay, does not have dedicated local death notice pages of its own. Instead, Waipukurau-area listings are absorbed into the broader Hawke’s Bay aggregators and regional funeral service providers. A Memory Tree captures Waipukurau-area deaths under the Hawke’s Bay Today banner, while Dunstalls Funeral Services sometimes lists Waipukurau families on its search platform. There is no separate Waipukurau obituary portal.

Regional coverage

For Waipukurau families seeking notices, the approach is the same as for Hastings or Napier: start with A Memory Tree filtered to Hawke’s Bay Today, then check Legacy.com for the regional archive. If the deceased used a specific funeral home, that firm’s site will carry the service details. Hawke’s Bay Funeral Services also arranges services for diverse communities across the region, including Central Hawke’s Bay, and may be a point of contact for Waipukurau families.

“To search death notices or to place a death notice online or in-paper.”

— NZ Herald (Hawke’s Bay Today), notice placement instructions

Noel George served his community as a volunteer fireman for 35 years and received Gold Star Fireman recognition. His memorial service was held at Bay View Fire Station on 11 February 2026.

— Dunstalls Funeral Services Ltd, tribute page

For families navigating loss in Hawke’s Bay, the infrastructure for finding and placing death notices is robust but scattered. Legacy.com holds the biggest single archive, Beth Shan and Dunstalls provide the personal service details that newspaper portals often skip, and A Memory Tree catches same-day updates across all papers. The challenge is that no single site does everything—you need two or three tabs open to get the full picture. That gap is worth knowing about before you need it.

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While scanning broader Hawkes Bay sources like Hawke’s Bay Today, this week’s Hastings notices reveal no new entries this period.

Frequently asked questions