A Post I Have Been Putting Of

I have been putting off posting on my blog for a couple of months now and the reason for that is that on Monday 24th February my youngest brother Simon Mamouney was in a single car crash on his way home from work, he passed away instantly. I got a distressed phone call from my sister in law Bindi around 8:30pm at night, I dropped everything and headed over there trying to process what she had just told me. I am one of 5 children and Simon was my youngest brother by 14 years. It was such a shock to get this news and even today over 7 weeks later it still doesn't seem quite real.

Simon and Bindi moved to Canberra nearly 17 years ago, just after Mia was born. I was so excited to have family in Canberra in particular my younger brother and his family. We have enjoyed many family dinners, picnics, holidays over the years and in particular have enjoyed visiting them in Austria and Ireland on their various postings with Simon's job with the Department of Foriegn Affairs and Trade.

This is probably one of the last photos I would have had taken with Simon, it was in Ireland when Bill and I visited them in October 2018. It was on a beach near Grange, over on the West Coast near Sligo where we met Bindi, Simon and the kids for the weekend. This beach was where some of the Spanish Armada was shipwrecked- Simon always loved his history.

The funeral was held a week later on Monday 2nd March with the Mamouney Family from Melbourne all in attendance and the Snow Family from Melbourne and Perth  also coming to Canberra. 

The funeral was a sad occasion but at the same time a wonderful celebabrtion of his life. Simon and Bindi had probably packed 40 years of adventures into the 20 years of life they had together.

Below is the program and photos of the funeral.

Photos adorned the walls, Bindi was a keen photographer so we are fortunate to have so many photos of him to help us remember the wonderful times we have had with him,

Bindi, his wife with their children, Charlie 14 and Mia 17

The funeral was held at Lyenham Chapel, it was a huge funeral, with people travelling from all around Australia. Cousins unexpectely came from Melbourne and Adelaide. Fellow workers from DFAT were there. It was quite a day. We were very fortunate that this all happened before the COVID -19 Pandemic took hold and were were able to gather together to mourn and process this tragic event. There was a private cremation later but we didn't attend this.