KEY POINTS:
The parents of the "miraculously separated" conjoined twins were among mourners at the funeral of leading orthopaedic surgeon David Clews in Hamilton yesterday.
The two-hour-long service, attended by about 700 people at St Paul's Collegiate, culminated in a flypast by aircraft including a veteran Catalina he loved to fly.
Eulogies were given by people representing differing "compartments" in the surgeon's life, but no open reference was made to his efforts for the conjoined twins, Abbey and Sarah.
They were separated at Waikato Hospital in October 2004 by a team of 55 health specialists. Mr Clews divided the girls' spines.
Their parents, Callan Hose and Melissa Davies, are from Rotorua.
During yesterday's service little direct mention was made of Mr Clews' illness, first diagnosed last August.
The 48-year-old retired from his work the following month, shocking colleagues and friends at the hospital.
Mr Clews' brother Geoff spoke of the increased time they had spent together over the past six months, and of his brother's love for his wife Elina, son Christopher and daughter Rebecca.
A medical colleague, Cameron Buchanan, said the aggressive nature of the cancer left Mr Clews with no doubt about what he faced. The surgeon had accepted that he was "done for."
Dr Buchanan, a specialist paediatric anaesthetist, said Mr Clews was a perfectionist who managed to retain his excellent sense of humour.
Aviation friend Chris Snelson spoke of Mr Clews' love of the "Catalina project", which enabled him to enjoy his favourite pastime of flying the amphibious aircraft.
Glenda Hughes, speaking for the twins' family, said Mr Hose and Ms Davies attended the funeral to pay their quiet respects to the surgeon.
"They wanted to take a low profile and pay their own private tribute."
Ms Hughes said Mr Clews had performed an amazing role for the twins' family.
However, it was important to acknowledge that he was a "fantastic doctor overall" and that his work helped many others.
