Wie geht's?
Recently, Jacky and I attended the funeral of a whanau member (Sam Moore) who had passed away in tragic circumstances in a car accident on the 17th of December.
I'm not good at funerals. I can feel myself withdraw from what's happening and all the funerals I've attended in my life start stacking up. I can't help it.
For good or for ill, I was spared attending funerals as a young child. I reflected on that fact while watching Sam's four young children climbing on his coffin in front of me. Times have changed and this now seems a perfectly normal thing to do.
As an adult I have had to attend quite a few funerals for young people, including former students, 19 years ago George Moore and now, 19 years later, his younger brother, Sam.
As we drove to New Plymouth for a family Christmas, the day after the funeral, the radio at one point played Tom Petty's Free Fallin' and I was immediately back at the Howick funeral for former Macleans College student Andrea Holmes (also killed in a road accident).
The two former students who took their own lives also flashed into my brain - one when I was Principal at Stratford High School, the other a student I taught at Woodford House.
Sam's funeral was the fourth in the Moore family and the third in as many years. The first tragedy was George, which his parents never really recovered from.
That kind of history is devastating and tough to recover from (sadly, Tim never did). But recover from it we must and will (I know something about this).
Sam was made of solid stuff - a deep loyalty, an amazing work ethic, and a fierce love for his family drove him. As he grew up to be a man, he turned himself into the best father possible. His story is inspirational in that regard.
I will miss you Sam. Rest in peace.
Love and peace to Jen (also made of solid stuff), and their children - Jordan, Rebecca, Elizabeth, George, and Alexandra.
1 comment:
Thank you, Warren. We will miss him forever, but we were lucky to know him.
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