Ringakapo Payne was born in Tokaanu and was educated at Tokaanu Native School, Queen Victoria College, and Wanganui Technical College. She taught for several years in primary schools in Turangi and Ruatahuna, worked in the family business and at the Auckland Post Office until her retirement in 1985. She and her husband researched their Jewish family history and in 1988 published Asher Asher. She has also written an entry in The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on her father John (Jack) Asher. When her husband died in 1991, Payne returned home to Turangi.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Nan Payne, 17 June 1998.
Non-fiction
- Asher Asher: His Life and Time: 1822-1899. Ed. R. C. Payne. Weymouth, Auckland, N.Z.: R. C. Payne, 1988.
- A detailed history of Asher and his descendants. Asher emigrated to New Zealand from England in 1842, worked as a merchant in Auckland, N.Z. and was the first Superintendent of the Auckland Fire Brigade and later became Captain of the Fire Brigade in Tauranga. He was a member of the Auckland Volunteer City Rifles Royal Company from 1858-59 and served in the New Zealand Land Wars from 1863-1864.
- "Asher, John Atirau 1892 – 1966." The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Vol. 4. 1921-1940. Auckland: AUP; Bridget Williams; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1998. 20-21.
- A biography about John Asher.