The 83-year-old was found dead at her Mt Pleasant home on Monday, although police said she was killed days earlier on October 4 by a man who knew her.
He appeared in court charged with her murder on Tuesday.
The daughter said her mother was a kind and gentle soul who was treasured by everyone.
"It's obviously very difficult to have someone wrenched away from you so suddenly and unexpectedly in such circumstances. It feels like being in the middle of a movie, surreal and unbelievable," she said.
She last heard from her mother on Friday morning while on holiday, but a message to her mum later that night went unanswered.
"I realised on Monday that I hadn't heard back from her so at that point I tried to call her. She sometimes goes out to lunch with a friend so I wasn't too worried at that point, but as I couldn't get hold of her at key times when I knew she'd be home, like later in the afternoon or around dinner time, I started to get worried."
When she still had not heard from her mother by the time she flew back to Christchurch, she rang a neighbour who told her about the police cordon.
"I then got worried but thought maybe that's why mum wasn't answering her phone and also maybe she'd left her cell phone at the house for some reason and couldn't access it.
"I was on the bus back from the airport during this time and arrived at the bottom of Mt Pleasant where I had to wait for a bus to get up the hill and I got a ring from police and asked them to pick me up, which they did, and told me the bad news," she said.
"It's had a wide-reaching effect with my mum having touched so many lives with her generous nature. Everyone is struggling to cope and understand how something so horrible could have happened to such a lovely person."
The woman's name and the name of the man accused of killing her are suppressed.
The daughter said her mother was a kind and generous woman who gave a lot to her community, and a keen singer and actress with a strong Christian faith.
"Mum was a person who was always thinking of others and wanting to help them in any way she could. She was such a fit 83-year-old that we thought we would have her with us a lot longer than we did," she said.
"She was still gardening and going for walks around the hill. She had a quiet grace and elegance about her but also had a real inner strength."
The woman had lived in the same house for more than 50 years with her husband, who died two years ago.
"It has been a journey for mum to come to terms with that and forge a new life for herself on her own. I felt she was just coming to the place of recovery from that shock and going out for lunch with friends, taking part in her church craft group and generally getting her own independent life back again," the daughter said.
"I walked up to mum's house every night and we had dinner together and I helped her with anything she needed help with. We enjoyed each other's company and spending time together. I also didn't want her to be alone after my father's death as that was a hard time for her adjusting."
The woman's daughter said she was thankful for the support of family, friends, Victim Support and police and everyone who had sent kind messages.
Police were keen to hear from anyone who heard or saw anything suspicious between 10am on Friday, October 4 to 4pm on Sunday, October 6 in the Mt Pleasant Road or Bellview Avenue area.
The man accused of murdering the woman was due to reappear in court on October 25.
