Dressed in black to farewell their eldest son Nicholas, Danielle and Nick Brice could take comfort in many colours: the red, gold, blue, white and khaki of comrades from four services.
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His surfing buddies, too, held their bright bodyboards like shields, flanking the pallbearers as the 22-year-old was carried from Broulee Memorial Gardens Chapel on Monday.
More than 650 mourners, including childhood friends and teachers, attended the service for Nicholas, formerly of Tuross Head, who was killed on Sunday, August 21, in an abseiling accident in Sydney.
South Narrabeen lifesavers, Parramatta SES personnel, Dundas Army Reservists wearing black armbands, fire fighters from three north-west Sydney brigades and his workmates from Energy Australia, Homebush, made the trip.
They spoke, not without stumbling, of a willing young man with a ready smile, who was eager to learn and delighted to help.
Energy Australia’s Ted Camp haltingly described a hard worker, who, with his trade union sympathies and belief “in a fair go” gladdened the heart “of those of similar persuasion”.
Despite his age, his workmates elected him Occupational Health and Safety officer.
In a big organisation, “not everyone knew his name, but they would ring up wanting ‘you know, that tall, slim, fair-haired, courteous young man’,” Mr Camp recalled.
Lifesaver Rohan Fisher recalled him showing up for a working bee, in the wrong uniform, fresh from helping out elsewhere; a man who would fall out of a boat, only to haul himself back in with a look that said “let’s do that again”.
Never has the word cheesecake been uttered more often at a funeral, with every speaker from his many voluntary groups first describing his dedication to their cause … and then his dedication to dessert.
The family who temporarily adopted him when he moved to Sydney scored an honorary “big brother” for their children. Even when he moved on, Nicholas regularly showed up cheerful, sandy and wet, to crash for the night.
Belrose RFS captain Mark Stevenson admired a resolute fire fighter who earned qualification after qualification, loving learning for its own sake.
In downtime, his head could be buried in a book “about fish breeding or a text book”.
To the tune of the Last Post, the old men of the RSL gathered to farewell someone who, if life was just, would have paid them that honour.
With the chapel standing-room-only, mourners crowded onto the lawns. They listened as, with great dignity, Danielle farewelled “our beautiful boy”, “a true gentlemen”, “who always found time for family and friends”.
She remembered his brave words at the funeral of his younger brother Chris, three years ago, struck by a car on South Head Road, Moruya. The family’s road safety campaign means a cycle/footpath has finally been built.
High school surfing buddy David Craig spoke of “Guru”, the go-to-guy for tricky questions.
“Nick would know,” Mr Craig said.
But, in the surf, one thing he didn’t know was fear. The picture chosen for the funeral program shows Nicholas, not in one of his many uniforms, but in boardies, eating up a wave, in blue heaven. “There’s not a cloud in the sky,” sang Wendy Matthews on Monday, “it’s as blue as your blue goodbye”.
Nicholas Brice packed a big life into a little time. A typing error on the program tells an accidental truth. Instead of listing his birth year as 1988, the numbers are jumbled to read 1898. Compared, it seems, to the rest of us, Nicholas easily managed more than a hundred years of living.
