Public memorial for James Valentine to be held at Sydney Town Hall
Updated ,first published
Valentine, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year, said at a meeting with family and friends that he wanted his final days to be filled with joy and laughter.
“Death is often a time of pain, anger, regret, shaking your fist at the universe or your god and asking, ‘What’s going on here?’ I’m starting to think I’m starting to ask. “I don’t want this,” he said. a living awakening Filmed for an emotional episode of ABC Australian Story.
“I want my last days to be filled with joy, happiness, laughter, jokes and humor, everything I have loved throughout my life.”
ABC Radio host Craig Reucassel said Thursday morning that Valentine wanted the memorial service to be open to the public.
“James was very enthusiastic, he planned this whole memorial, he wanted the public to come, his fans, the people who were listening to him,” Reucassel said.
ABC Sydney station manager Nick Lowther said plans for the Valentine’s Day commemoration did not end there. He also wanted his radio program to be part of the memorial service.
“He just wants to be able to chat through the people he’s arranged to speak at the memorial service,” Lowther told the ABC..
The day after Valentine’s death, his wife, clinical psychologist Joanne Corrigan, I explained this imprint how, while in pain and at risk of fainting, he mustered the energy to tell the VAD team that he wanted to end his life. He was in the bedroom of their eastern suburbs home with their son Roy and daughter Ruby.
“He felt comfortable,” he said. “He chose the spot on the bed where I always sleep. He said, ‘I want to be here, in this spot. I’m comfortable.’ It was a very gentle end to the suffering. The three of us said goodbye to him and he was immediately at peace. It was beautiful.”
Born in Victoria in 1961, Valentine grew up in Ballarat and left his hometown to study jazz in Melbourne, where he worked as a musician before joining Australian band the Models.
She left Models in 1987 and took on the role of afternoon host on ABC children’s TV. Other TV roles soon followed, but Valentine moved to radio in 1999 and spent more than 25 years on the air.
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Kayla Olaya is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
