But there were two Snow Brays. One was the man who devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to his community, via the fire brigade, Far North Special Olympics (of which he was a founding member), and latterly Far North Hospice. And there was the adored husband, father and grandfather.
Daughter Diane Burgess-Lardner told the congregation that her father was, and always would be, "our hero."
He had been the narrator of his children's and grandchildren's lives.
"I feel lost for words. He provided so many of them," she said.
"I have thought of what he would say, how he would help us search through the tears and see the rainbow."
Her father had lived every day for "Mum," his family and the community. And he had lived every day of his 72 years with enthusiasm, compassion and respect for others.
There had been an element of mischief. Snow, as he had been known from the age of four, and his brothers had donned World War I gasmasks and ambushed a younger Colin Kitchen, who lived next door, scaring him witless. But it had been Snow who had taken Colin by the hand and led him to school when he turned five.
He had been an entrepreneur selling fruit and pine cones as a child. He was a milkman, a painter and decorator for Trevor Brake for 21 years and a Kaitaia Hospital maintenance man for 28 years.
He had met his wife to be, Irene, at the nurses' home, where he had been a frequent visitor.
"He would rustle up a flock of nurses for himself and his single mates, but that stopped when he met Mum," Diane said.
And he had been the happiest Poppa in the world - his grandchildren were his living legacy.
Senior Station Officer Ross Beddows said Snow had joined the fire brigade in 1974 when New Zealand had just hosted the Christchurch Commonwealth Games, US President Richard Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and Prime Minister Norm Kirk was suffering his final illness.
"Snow soon became a valued, respected and integral part of the Kaitaia Fire Brigade," he said. He was named the Fireman of the Year in 1979, and again in 2012. Promoted to Senior Fireman in 1981, he recorded his 1000th muster in 1985, his 2000th in 1992, his 3000th in 2003 after a five-year hiatus, and in 2004 received his Gold Star for 25 years' service.
In August 2014 he became the fifth brigade member to surpass 5000 musters.
He announced his retirement from the brigade last year, and it was "with great sadness and disbelief that we learned only months later of his illness," Mr Beddows said.
"Less than a year later he is gone, and we will miss him terribly, but we all have our memories of Snow. He was always so reliable and dependable, a strong man even in is later years. He always pulled his weight and set an example, both with his attendance and his work ethic. If you had Snow in your crew you had someone you knew you could depend on."
Those qualities had never been better displayed than in February 2013, when he was part of a very small crew, with Mr Beddows and now deputy CFO Craig Rogers and two rookies, who were first to arrive at the Waiharara School house.
"We had our work cut out for us until the second crew arrived, and Snow was everywhere," Mr Beddows said, "helping us with our breathing apparatus, running out feeders and deliveries, carrying the portable pump with Craig to the pool and then manning it.
"He was probably worth two of the young guys, and this was a man who was almost 70."
