Saturday, February 18, 2017

Difficult post

It is with a heavy heart I am writing this post.

In early February George passed away unexpectedly. As some of you may be aware his name was not really George but in fact was John. He was well known here which is why I used a different name giving me the freedom to tell our lives as we were living it at the time.

John's sons all came to Christchurch for our final farewell to him. I relayed his deteriorating condition in case any of them wished to see him. His eldest son desperately tried to get a flight but was unable to until the Sunday  which was too late but I told John he was coming and I am sure he knew. His eldest son, Mark and his partner, Helen, were a wonderful support and helped to organise a 'celebration of John's life'. Although his son lives in Australia he visited regularly and spent some quality time with his dad during the last years of his life, John adored these times.   John and I had talked about this time so I knew what he wanted. He was cremated and we held a private celebration of his life. We made it a time of remembrance talking about a wonderful and happy life. This was a private celebration where about 50 family, friends, work colleagues and former All Blacks gathered at a cafe we frequented. He would have loved to have been part of it. We had four speeches; John's eldest son spoke of their family life, his oldest friend spoke of their friendship over a nearly 70 year   period, an old All Black spoke about being a player when John was reporting and a work colleague spoke about his career at the Press. (For those of you unfamiliar with All Blacks they are our National rugby team.)


I miss him so much.

5 comments:

  1. My thoughts are with you: may his soul rest in peace.

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  2. {{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}} and prayers for you di. i suspected something had happened when i didn't get your posts.

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  3. Thank you Annie, it took me a while before I could write about it. I will get there, not easy but he is now at peace

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  4. Di, I'm so sorry. Even though we expect it "someday," somehow we think that someday will never come, or at least that's how i felt. I have been thinking about you constantly since i got your email, the notification of this post and the ones that followed, and while I haven't commented, I have been standing with you in grief on the other side of the world. God bless you for everything you did for and with John. So many blessings. XOX

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