Stories
Nick Bollinger
“Dad talked to me from the moment I opened my eyes, and I can remember conversations all through those sixteen years with him.”
Nick Bollinger’s dad was known to many as a wise and kind man before he died when Nick was sixteen. The writer and broadcaster reckons he’d still be doing what he does had his father lived, but he would have found his way much sooner.
David Lawrence
“The worst thing in my life was also responsible for some of the best things in my life.”
David Lawrence found so much comfort in Shakespeare’s Hamlet after his father died when he was fifteen that he made theatre his life, creating a lasting connection to his theatre-loving dad.
Catherine Peters
“All I wanted was for everyone to be together … that’s probably my greatest sadness.”
Her father’s fatal heart attack when Catherine Peters was sixteen had many immediate and obvious impacts on her family. Decades later, it’s perhaps the impact on her relationships with her sisters that is her biggest and most lasting sadness.
Michael Huddleston
“He just seemed impregnable. If there is an end that’s inevitable, be honest about it and discuss it.”
Michael Huddleston lives with a heart condition that’s possibly the same one that killed his father when Michael was only fifteen. Now a father of two, he’s determined to have more time with his own children than his dad did with him.
Caitlin Cherry
“It’s up to me to look after myself, there’s nothing coming my way”
Caitlin Cherry’s dad left New Zealand for Australia when she was six then died suddenly when she was nine. Growing up with little money and less support, Caitlin knew she had only herself to rely on.