What Happened to Dad... Fifty Two Years On.

 It was Monday June 19 1967. I was a student in Room Two at Te Poi Primary School. I was sitting working quietly when there was a knock on the door. It was mid-morning. My Auntie was at the door. The teacher went out to speak to her briefly and came back into the room. She told me to get my bag and to go with my aunt. 

Home was only two miles away so the journey back there was a very short few minutes. Though it proved to be a memorable occasion. I asked her what was happening but she simply stated that “Your mother will tell you.” We rode in her Austin 1800 in comfortable silence for the rest of the time.

We both got out of the car and she knocked on the door which I thought was unusual. Mother answered and my Aunt said that she had brought me from school as requested. Mother thanked her and for doing that. She turned and walked back to her car, got into it and left. I watched her as she drove out of the gate.

 

I went inside. Mother and my older brother had evidently been talking in the room we called the pantry and Mum had rejoined him there. I thought that a little strange as well. She just left me in the dining room without a word. I wondered where Dad was and decided to look around. It wasn’t uncommon for him to have gone to a meeting or a dog trial or something of that nature. I thought he had probably gone to see a friend about a cow or dog or, something.

I knew about his heart and for a second I felt reassured that he was alright. I wondered if I should go out on the farm to search for him. It took a moment to notice that the Chev was parked in the driveway. Where was Dad? My world began to crumble. I didn’t want to acknowledge the terrible possibility that was a shadow in the corner of my mind. That would explain why I was home from school with no explanation and the odd behaviors that people were exhibiting.

 

I could hear them as I walked down the hallway toward the pantry and as I got closer I could hear what they were saying through the tears. Dad had died. The Doctor had been out to help try to save him. He’d had a massive heart attack. Initially he had collapsed in the gateway of the Pump Shed paddock. He yelled out for my older brother who had run to his aide. He helped Dad home and sat him on the sofa in the dining room. Dad had known that his time was up and he shook my older brother by the hand and said ”Looks like this is komati Old Chap.” 

 

They had performed CPR on him for an hour and a half. The ambulance was deployed elsewhere and hadn’t been able to come for that length of time. The doctor had declared him deceased and they had got Dad in the bath and cleaned him up before the hearse came to take his body to the mortuary. I gathered all of this and walked into the room where they were. I asked where Dad was and Mother confirmed my worst fears. My entrance caused the two of them to take stock and pull themselves together. 

 

Mum went off to begin making arrangements for the funeral and to contact people. My older brother went out on the farm to shift stock and feed out which needed to be done and soon. Both I guess needed time by themselves to process the reality of the situation that they had just experienced and to consider the likely consequences of Dad’s passing.

 

Through the afternoon and evening the family began to gather from around the North Island. One brother worked a farm job in the Te Poi area. My sister was at New Plymouth Girls High School and came back by bus. Mum met the bus in Matamata from memory. Yet another brother was at a farm job south of Rotorua and my oldest brother met him at another bus at the end of the road. Two of my brothers were at Capenwray Hall in Auckland attending bible college and came home the next day. News traveled fast around the community and many friends and family came around to express their condolences. One thing was sure though and that was from that point on life would never be the same again.

 

Fifty two years on I can’t help but wonder how things would have been different for all of us if Dad had lived another ten years. Passing when he did he never got to see who his children married or any of the grandchildren. Because he was taken in his prime we viewed it as a tragedy and that has profound consequences in itself. In the end all I can say is that God had a purpose in taking Dad when he did and I miss him everyday.

 Alter Call

Friends I want you to know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but inherit eternal life. You need to understand that you are not alone in needing his forgiveness. Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So won’t you believe on him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may receive the free gift of God which is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord?