Wayne Thomas Mitchell

To Wendy, Emma, Tony, Andy, Rohani, and whānau. Please accept my thoughts of sympathy and prayers following the loss of your beloved Wayne. It was with sadness that I heard of his passing from Wym. I have delightful memories of times shared with Wayne, Mary and Emma, Tony and Andy, back when we were all first pretty new to Brisbane. I haven’t forgotten Wayne in his black stubbies and jandals, the Coca Cola, and of course his big smile, and enthusiasm. The laughter and good feelings that were generated in that kitchen in New Farm. I saw Wayne only once years later, when as a representative for an educational NZ publisher I was manning a stand at an educational conference in Rotorua. Wayne was there for his work, and he recognised me, and stopped to say hello. A thoughtful and considerate person still with that big smile. Ka aroha hoki. Paula Reid

My sincere condolences to daughter Emma, Wendy and family. Wayne and I met as teenagers at schools across the fence, married young and grew up together. There were lots of happy family times, ups and downs and many adventures including moving to Australia with baby Emma. Best of all from our years together was watching Emma grow into an amazing and successful woman. As a dad – always a loving parent with unfailing support as Em grew to stand strong in her own identity and life – ever proud, both of us. May you Fly High with the Eagles beyond human pain and suffering, and yet may the happiness and successes of family remain forevermore.

To those of you that don’t know me, I am Kristian Schader, eldest son of Peter and Valda Schader (my mum Valda, being a younger sister to my beloved aunt and Wayne’s mum, Althea Mitchell. Along with my sister Inga, and brother Joen, we moved with my parents to Rotorua in the mid to late 70’s where Mum and Dad set about consolidating a family unit in what then was a small city with lots of space to grow. Central to this growth, was our family ties to my aunt and uncle, Althea and Les and my cousins Wayne, Tony, and Gary. Throughout our time in Rotorua, I watched as a young lad, the movements of my older cousins as they moved into adult life - although they didn't probably know it, a lot of my musical taste, choice of hot cars and hairstyles (at the time!) came as a result of these three guys, who I looked upon as one would, older brothers. As we all grew older and moved in our own directions, I hold dearly my time growing up in Rotorua with fond memories of cool music, 70’s fashion and prickles in Althea and Les’s back lawn. 11 Years later, Wayne would come into my life again as my new wife Tania and I, travelled to Brisbane in 1988 with our newborn daughter Ashley, to check it out as a possible place to life. Wayne kindly offered his place for us to stay for a few days as we looked around Brisbane but ultimately decided to return to Auckland. Cut forward another 10 years and I find myself holidaying in Istanbul, Turkey, with my wife Tania and two daughters, Ashley, and Elle. We are staying in a guest house in the old quarter when I find out (somehow without the internet), that Wayne and Mary are also travelling in Turkey and happen to be in Istanbul at the same time. What followed was an amazing collaboration of travel plans as we all spent the next week exploring Istanbul together – It was here I found my true love of Wayne and his love of giving things a go. Even then his physical condition was starting to intrude on his life, but he kept on going, his stoic nature really started to impress on me his strength of character ability to enjoy life. Moving ahead another 5 years and this time, with the family in tow, I made the decision to finally move to Brisbane (this time we didn’t turn back!), again, Wayne was there with welcoming arms, offering his house to me, while I set up for the family to move across, helping me with learning the “OZ way” and generally being the best mate one could be in that situation – and the one thing I cannot forget, instilling in me the joys of freshly brewed coffee….Wayne brewing a cup in his Brisbane Barista stubbies, is a thing you’ll never forget. I could go on and on about Wayne and his generosity, patience, intuition, good nature, resilience …. but I’ll let someone else have their time, as I’m sure there are lots of stories to tell…. All I want to say is I’ll always remember Wayne for what he brought to my life and everything he brought was awesome. Rest in peace my brother.