Young dad about to open own business

The 22-year-old Matua father killed in a head-on car crash on Sunday had just signed a lease to open his own garage.
Richard Trevor Levis has been described by family, friends and work mates as a young man passionate about being a dad, and a mechanic, and someone who always helped others.
For Mr Levis' mother Sharon Denfield, last Sunday was the worst Mother's Day imaginable.
She was given the news her eldest son had been killed as   his family prepared a dinner at his grandparents home in Te Puke.
Mr Levis was  taking his  3-year-old daughter MacKenzie Hope Owens for a drive ``to calm her'' in the lower Kaimais when his vehicle, travelling west, was involved in a collision with another vehicle  near Belk Rd on SH29.
Mrs Denfield said her son was probably going to turn around at Belk Rd to head out to Te Puke.
Instead, his car ended up going through a wire fence and down a slope, before coming to rest partially submerged in a creek.
Attempts by two passers-by to resuscitate Mr Levis failed.
The men also pulled MacKenzie, who was restrained in the back seat, from the vehicle.
Remarkably, the toddler was not in the water and suffered only minor neck injuries.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Before Mr Levis and MacKenzie had set out on the drive, they had played together at Mrs Denfield's Matua home, where Mr Levis had been living for the past month.
Mrs Denfield said her son spent every Sunday with MacKenzie, who lives with her mother and Mr Levis' ex-partner Nicole Owens.
``They were still really good friends,'' Mrs Denfield said.
``Richard was the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back. He did a lot for a lot of people without expectations.''
Mrs Denfield said she was extremely grateful to the two men who pulled Mr Levis and MacKenzie from the vehicle.
``They did wonderfully well, we really do appreciate their efforts.''
 She hoped Mackenzie would not have lasting side-effects from the accident.
Mr Levis, who grew up in Paengaroa and attended Te Puke High School, was passionate about cars and being a mechanic.
Last week he had signed the lease to a garage on Amber Cres, Judea, where he planned to open an after-hours mechanics.
``He was really excited about it,'' Mrs Denfield said.
``He knew that nobody else in Tauranga offered that service so he knew he wouldn't be taking any work from anyone else. That's the kind of guy he was, an honourable man . . . a little bit old fashioned. He was as loyal as they come.''
Mr Levis' love of cars came from his grandfather Trevor Levis, whose last name he chose to take as his own.
``He was helping get the spanners when he was just six years old,'' Mrs Denfield said.
 Mr Levis is survived by his grandfather, grandmother Nola Levis, brother David Denfield, 18, sister Evelyn Denfield, 20, and Evelyn's children Alexys and Wyatt Denfield.
Mr Levis' work mates at Tauranga Repowers Ltd (TRL) in Merivale, where he worked as a mechanic for the past three years, said the ``fantastic guy'' would be greatly missed.
``It really is just sinking in,'' mechanic Craig Corbett said.
``He was the kind of guy who would look after everyone. Always there to help. He had a lot of friends.''
TRL owner Joe Dabrowski, said Mr Levis would ``definitely be missed around here''.
``He was a really hard worker ... passionate.''
Mr Dabrowski described him as a ``good dad'' and a ``proud father''.
 Friend Danielle Sullivan, 20, who lives in the Merivale home owned by Mr Levis and which he lived in until about a month ago, said he had helped her out a great deal.
``I needed a place to stay and he was there to put me and my son up,'' she said.