By KATH GANNAWAY
CHLOE Blackney’s family were beside her every step of the way as she was farewelled last week with beautiful tributes, tears and courage.
She would have been proud of them all.
Among the more than 800 hundred people at the Heritage Pioneer Chapel at Woori Yallock on Wednesday, 26 February, were students, teachers and parents from Launching Place Primary School where Chloe was in her final year and many friends and family from the Yarra Glen community.
Chloe, 11, was killed, along with family friend Gary Theobold, when a truck crashed into the car he was driving on Saturday, 15 February, at Steels Creek. Chloe was a back seat passenger. Her best friend Hayley Theobald and Hayley’s brother Lachlan were also in the car, on their way to Funfields in Whittlesea to celebrate Hayley’s 12th birthday.
Celebrant Andrew Henley spoke of the special relationships Chloe shared with her brothers Rhys and Brock and sister Holly, with her 15 cousins, uncles and aunties, and her adoring grandparents.
He spoke of a little girl who might one day be have been a teacher, who loved being in the school aerobics team and family holidays, and who was fearless when it came to going on the biggest and scariest rides at the theme parks.
Simon and Kylie spoke bravely of their cute little girl who loved ice-cream and chocolate, loved pushing everything to the limit, had a finely-tuned sense of humour, and who was developing into a beautiful young lady
“She loved that she belonged to our family,” Kylie said.
Simon spoke of how she valued her friends and read a message from Hayley that listed the things she would miss – her contagious smile, funny sense of humour, the way she talked so fast and her smelly farts.
“We started kinder together and stuck together like chewing gum on a shoe,” she said.
She shared her most heartfelt grief.
“I wish this was a terrible nightmare and I would wake up and we would nearly be at Funfields,” she said. To which everyone in their hearts echoed “Amen”.
