The heart she was given allowed Veronica Ball another eight precious years of life, her grieving family said this week.
Mrs Ball died on Tuesday in Dunedin Hospital, aged 44.
Mrs Ball's mother, Helen Christie, said the transplant never failed.
''It was a good, strong heart,'' Mrs Christie said.
The family urged people to consider donating an organ, and to support family members to do so.
Mrs Ball died from kidney failure, which was thought to be connected with the immune system suppressing drugs she had to take because of the transplant.
She went to hospital a month ago, suffering from blood clots, and was flown to Auckland to spend a week in hospital before returning to Dunedin Hospital.
She was transferred to Auckland for diagnostic purposes because she had had a transplant. A learning difficulty had never stopped Mrs Ball participating in life. The little house near Carisbrook she shared with her husband of 19 years, Andy, was a social gathering point for the couple's friends.
Mrs Ball liked to bake for friends, family, and colleagues at the Community Care Trust, where she worked as a receptionist.
Since the transplant, she had enjoyed sport, tenpin bowling, visits to the gym, and craft-making.
She had written an autobiography, and each year wrote to her donor family to thank them, through an intermediary.
The couple made regular visits to Temuka, where Mr and Mrs Christie had shifted from Dunedin, usually bearing a generous store of baked goods.
''She never let anything hold her back,'' Mrs Christie said.
Mr Ball said his wife's death had come as a major shock. Life had been normal until she became seriously ill a month ago. The nurses at Dunedin Hospital had been ''lovely'', he said.
A funeral service was held yesterday.
