Austin Hemmings' wife and children are planning one last family trip together - to Israel, where they will find a sacred spot to scatter the ashes of the man they adored.
"He wanted to go to Israel," his wife Jenny told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday. "He just wanted to see where a lot of the Bible happened. Walk where Jesus walked. So he's going to be cremated and we're going to do that trip for him."
Hemmings, 44, died in central Auckland on Thursday, moments after a 45-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, allegedly stabbed him in the chest.
Hemmings was trying to help a woman the man had punched and managed to dial "11" on his phone before he was stabbed. The man had allegedly gone in search of the woman after she ended their relationship.
Motives make little difference to the family Austin left behind - Jenny, an art teacher at Takapuna Grammar, daughters Meghann, 19, and Jessica, 17, and son Gareth, 16.
They forgive the man unconditionally. They would like to meet his family, "for their sake" and would be happy to meet the woman too.
The extended Hemmings family is gathering at Austin and Jenny's hillside home in Devonport. After nine months here there is no thought of a move back to Hamilton, Jenny says - this house is where their strongest memories linger.
"He just loved being at home, lying on the couch, playing with the remote..." Recently Austin had started to cook the occasional dinner - fish pie was his specialty, and of course "meat - red meat", Meghann laughs.
She has raided her father's wardrobe, and looks very small in one of his shirts.
Meghann says she spent a lot of time with her father over the past few months - the family's shift to Auckland meant lots of coffee dates, long talks, and walks on beaches.
Jenny is planning Austin's funeral, talking to police and poring through photo albums - and inviting reporters in, sure that her husband's death will inspire others to find God.
"I want everyone to be talking about Austin... We have got too much violence in our society. The only way to change that is to change what's in our hearts.
"One of the greatest wishes in Austin's life was that people come to know God. And he had to die to get his message to the nation," she says.
Austin's funeral will be at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday at 1.30pm, just down the road from the family's home.
It is 25 years since Jenny first spotted Austin, "this fantastically good-looking man", sitting across from her in his father's church. At 20, he had already decided 25 was a good age to get married; after meeting Jenny he realised 22 was even better.
Every day he told her she was beautiful. "He said that what makes a woman beautiful is how much she is loved... I haven't quite let him go yet, but I'm nearly there. I need to touch him. I need to talk to him. I need to remember." She is looking forward to dressing her husband for the funeral.
The 25-year-old woman whom Hemmings died trying to help was put under armed police protection after the incident, until the next morning when the alleged assailant was arrested.
Her adoptive father said last night he had been praying for everyone involved in the tragedy. His daughter had been staying at the home of a friend since the incident.
The minister of Fetu Ao Samoan Methodist Church, the Rev Ioane Tuupo, said the woman was a lifelong member of the church and he relied on her to lead a youth group. Church members prayed for the wellbeing of the Hemmings family, as well as the accused - at a 9.30pm service on Friday.
He planned to ask the Hemmings family if he could take part in the funeral.
Police say finding the knife used in the assault is "vitally important" but won't stop them pressing further charges in relation to the murder, as well as to the assault on the woman. The accused - who is known to police - lives transiently. He has recently stayed in Mt Eden, Otahuhu and Auckland's CBD. Arrested on an assault charge, he is expected to face a murder count when he reappears in court on October 17.
