Carmen during her businesswoman days in Wellington The increasingly contentious Carmen Rupe Facebook profile was switched off during the week after a request by family members seeking to protect Carmen's name and legacy. Originally a site through which Carmen kept in contact with her friends and which in her last months kept people updated on her deteriorating health the site had after her death increasingly become a forum for sometimes vitriolic allegations and concerns surrounding the recent establishment of the Carmen Rupe Memorial Trust and the woman who led that process, Carmen's Sydney neighbour, Kelly Glanney. It was suddenly closed two nights ago. Carmen's niece, beneficiary and a founding trustee of the Trust, Chanette Hemopo, has posted on Facebook that her aunt "would not want her name used in association with any form of slander or nastiness, publicly or privately. That was simply not her at all and she did not support this type of behaviour." "It is most unfortunate the Carmen Rupe FB site could not work with the Carmen Rupe Memorial Trust FB site instead of slandering it," Hemopo has posted. "Attempts had been made from early January, when I know Kelly was pleading with [site administrator] Pindi [Hurring] via email requesting she kindly refrain from using her page against the CRMT. From there the Carmen Rupe page sadly evolved into a creation of total non-truths to say the least." The final straw appears to have been when Hemopo says she found herself "blocked from using the Carmen Rupe FB page" even though "I had not posted on her site for well over a year. I could not understand why I had been blocked unless it was just because I was supporting the CRMT?" "I as Carmen's niece, major beneficiary of her estate, former legal guardian and joint executor of her will, along with my mother Tess Hemopo, Carmens’ sister and closest family with full support of my brother, sisters, nieces and nephews then contacted Facebook and asked them to close the Carmen Rupe Facebook site." Hemopo, who is a spokesperson for Carmen's family, posts her hope that "over time all Carmens’ fans will take the time to actually look into what we, the CRMT, will be doing in Aunt's name as our goal is to honour her wishes." You can discuss this New Zealand gay community News Story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th March 2012 - 10:51pm