9 March 2002 – 29 June 2017
Emily was a good friend to many. She was a little person with a big personality; bubbly, bright, generous, funny, adventurous, compassionate, sassy, and a ray of sunshine with a beautiful smile. Her favourite colour was green, she loved eating chicken nuggets and she was obsessed with The Lion King!
Emily was the kind of person who, when she walked into a room, lit it up…sometimes almost literally, like the time she nearly set the Science Lab on fire. She had a great sense of humour, from her endless puns to wearing her Leprechaun hat to Athletics Day, Emily always gave us lots of reasons to laugh.
Emily joined the Middleton family in Year 9. She contributed to school life by being involved in many activities: International Ambassador, Kapahaka, Year 9/10 Choir, Middle School Service and Projects Committee. She had dreams of becoming a Prefect or House Captain and wanted to run awesome activities such as pyjama days, picnics,and Jump Jam. She also wanted to reach out to younger pupils. She often talked about Year 13 when she could leave school at lunchtime to go on Maccas runs.
Emily had big goals for her future, such as competing on The Block, going on epic road trips and travelling overseas, including the next school trip to Argentina. She had a passion for missions work, having already been to Uganda on multiple occasions. She wanted to continue this by studying in the medical field and taking her knowledge and skills back to Africa to help the people she loved.
Emily’s faith was genuine and influential. She loved Jesus with all her heart and this rubbed off on others. She demonstrated her faith in the way she looked out for others and was aware of people’s needs. She was always encouraging, was willing to listen, and gave great advice such as not to waste life worrying, but trust God to work things out. Despite having some health challenges she had an optimistic and positive outlook on life.
Emily was an incredibly courageous and determined young woman. An example of this was seen in school English speeches. She would not let fear stop her from delivering her speech, despite being a bawling bundle of nerves!
At the funeral Mr Vanderpyl talked about the way that Emily clothed herself with compassion, kindness, humility, etc. This was perfect because Emily’s favourite verses were Colossians 3: 12 – 14:
“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”
The way that Emily lived these verses challenges us to be genuine in our own faith and all that we do, just as she was.
Breanna Stocks, Evie Yeo and Alyssa Marsden
