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The famed adventurer's state funeral, which was broadcast live from Antarctica to Nepal, hushed busy workday streets around the nation and brought families out into the rain to show their admiration for Ed the adventurer, the philanthropist and the man.
His widow, Lady June, and children Peter and Sarah were joined by thousands of mourners at yesterday morning's service in St Mary's in Holy Trinity, Auckland, including Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Cabinet, politicians from all parties, diplomats, foreign envoys and representatives of the organisations and communities to which Sir Edmund devoted what he considered his greatest gift - a lifetime's philanthropic work.
The proceedings began at 8.45am under blustery skies, as a military catafalque party of eight sailors, soldiers and airmen carried Sir Edmund's coffin into St Mary's, Parnell, from the neighbouring Holy Trinity Cathedral, where he had lain in state since Monday, attended by thousands of citizens who queued, many for hours, to see his casket.
The procession also included two precious possessions, carried upon cushions by slow-stepping soldiers; a carved wooden walking stick and an ice-axe to sum up the adventurous spirit of Sir Ed, who died on January 11 of a heart attack, aged 88.
His favourite prayers and music, including the hymns The Lord is My Shepherd and How Great Thou Art, performed by Dame Malvina Major, were followed by bible readings by Governor-General Anand Satyanand and Larry Witherbee, an old friend and president of the US-based fundraising body, the Hillary Trust.
In her address to the congregation, Prime Minister Helen Clark praised Sir Edmund for a lifetime of achievements and offered her personal farewell to a man whose skills and morals she admired greatly.
"We mourn as a nation because we know we're saying goodbye to a friend, whether we knew Sir Edmund personally; a lot, a little or not at all," she said. "He was a central part of our New Zealand family. How privileged we were to have that living legend with us for 88 years."
Peter and Sarah Hillary told of a father who taught them about courage, adventure and the importance of finding joy in life, even through the death of his first wife Louise and daughter Belinda in 1975, which caused his "whole world to crumble," as Sarah Hillary said.
Peter Hillary said the tragedies of Sir Ed's life made him even more special to New Zealanders. "I think Dad was a real people's hero, and I think that's because he was real, he really was the genuine article."
Addresses followed from climbing friend Jim Wilson, Christchurch Dean Peter Beck, and Nepali friends Ang Rita Tsering and Norbu Tenzing Norgay, the sons of Sir Ed's climbing companions, Ningma Tsering and Tenzing Norgay.
As his coffin was loaded into a black hearse for the cortege procession, the sounds of a lone bagpiper playing Abide with Me faded beneath a haka performed with passion by schoolchildren from Edmund Hillary Collegiate. "Haere ra," chanted the barefoot boys and girls in their shorts and T-shirts, and the hearse pulled out for the journey to a private cremation at Purewa Cemetery.
Along the way, applause rang from crowds thronging the roadsides, farewelling the man who took such pride in being, like them, an ordinary New Zealander.
