#49 - Celebration and givings of thanks for Philip's life

The following is intended mainly for those who could not attend the ceremony.

The afternoon ceremony, a celebration and giving of thanks for Philip’s life, was held in the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion at the National Arboretum. The venue has high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows giving views over Lake Burley Griffin to hills beyond. One uses imagination to visualise the surrounding forests which will grow in time; at present the hillsides, after about five years, are covered with saplings.a 

The table at the front of the venue was decorated with Philip memorabilia: wedding photo of Philip and Maureen, the mobile phone which became grafted to his hand in his final months and received a lot of use, his small Chromebook (one of his multiple computers), name tags from U3A, Mental health Carers Network, Calvary Peer Support, Field Naturalists Association and Friends of Mt Painter (with logo designed by Lisa) and a painting of the might-have-been Maverston Street bushland neighbourhood park..

A large number of Philip’s and Maureen’s friends attended, coming from the Central and South Coasts of NSW, from Gippsland, Victoria, as well as Sydney and Melbourne and of course Canberra. They represented long-standing friendships from nature groups (Friends of Mt Painter, Field Naturalists Association of Canberra), U3A (especially the two computer groups of Coffee’n’Chat and Nongeeks, and possibly Shakespeare study group) and mental health (Mental Health Carers Network, Calvary Peer Support volunteers, National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum).

As guests arrived they picked up a program and signed the memorial book. (I believe this was not supervised by the funeral directors and so a number of you might have missed out. Please contact me if you would like your name added to the memorial book. We shall put the program leaflet up on the blog but contact me if you would like a paper copy.)

A slide show - prepared by Jocelyn from photos supplied by Maureen - ran while we listened to Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, music set to a poem by Cardinal Newman. This was unfamiliar to many but was a long-standing favourite of Philip’s.

His friend and former Philosophy lecturer, John Challis, welcomed everyone, then family shared memories of Philip. Maureen reminisced about their 47 years together (a section on their early married life got unaccountably dropped from her reminiscences, this will be rectified in the text to be posted soon); Philip’s brother Graham shared some heartfelt memories; Jocelyn gave a personal take on Philip’s abiding characteristics and traits (including the reformer, the lover of language, the man of ideas and the man of excess); and Lisa read out a moving poem she composed about her father.

After a rendition of Louis Armstrong singing It’s a Wonderful World friends gave tribute to Philip’s life, with memories read out in person or for them. They covered old friendships, his working life, his computer and mental health activities, his nature activities including setting up Friends of Mt Painter and being in the founding group of the Field Naturalists Association, and his own reflections on his life which were dictated to friends and to me.

There was time for reflection while we listened to the Andante from Mozart’s Piano Concerto N.21 before guests were invited to continue celebrating Philip’s life along with afternoon tea The slide show and I’m on My Way from Porgy and Bess played in the background.

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Maureen and family would like to thank everyone who came to help celebrate Philip’s life. It is heart-warming to see the love and respect in which he has been held. Thanks to all those wonderful friends who sent cards, notes, letters, emails, flowers and food, and who gave emotional and practical support in so many ways. It helped us bear up over the challenging months since his January diagnosis. 

Extra special thanks to my amazing daughter Jocelyn who has been a tower of strength. She organised the venue, prepared two PowerPoint presentations, designed and produced the Memorial Book, the program and program running sheet, even supplied Toscan Dinn with an essential USB at the last minute – all while commuting back and forth between Sydney and Canberra, writing a report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and juggling, alongside partner Jason, a young family.