High above Saks Fifth Avenue, an intimate service takes place in a very special garden every April. Designated as a place to remember the dead of two world wars, the Anzac Memorial Garden stemmed from the drive of New Zealandborn Hollywood movie star Nola Luxford and the generosity of Manhattan’s Rockefeller family.
Born in the small Rangitikei town of Hunterville in 1895, Luxford became an actress in silent movies and talkies after moving to Los Angeles in 1919. In the 1930s, she became a radio announcer in New York.
When World War II broke out, Luxford threw herself into war relief and fundraising, hosting gatherings for many of the hundreds of young Australians and New Zealanders who flocked to New York on