KEY POINTS:
Austin Hemmings had a favourite saying - "Miss you already".
Last night, his family, friends and colleagues found themselves echoing his phrase.
Still stunned by the loss of a man who led an exemplary life, his family say Mr Hemmings died the way he lived -
trying to help.
"They said he was a good Samaritan," older brother Grant, 48, said.
"Austin is. And he died doing what he believed in, which was going and helping somebody who needed help, and that's him in a nutshell, really. He's a guy who never strayed from what he believed in."
Austin Hemmings, 44, was fatally stabbed after going to the aid of a woman who was screaming for help in downtown Auckland on Thursday.
Yesterday, after helping remove his body from Mills Lane, the family invited the Weekend Herald into their Devonport home.
The close-knit family, who are united by a deep Christian faith, are not angry or bitter about what happened, choosing instead to focus on their love for a man who led by example.
Mr Hemmings' wife, Jenny, described a man who kissed her every morning and hugged his children every day.
"I've had 25 wonderful, wonderful years with a man who has a deep faith and love for his family that goes to the core of his being," she said.
Craig Hemmings, 50, said his brother was a "humble guy" who "never put a foot wrong in his life".
"He'd get up each morning and pray for his family, family friends, work colleagues and his country. He felt very strongly about praying for his country - men standing up and being men in New Zealand."
Austin Hemmings' children - Meghann, 19, Jessica, 17, and Gareth, 16 - said their Dad was also their friend.
"The best memory is that there aren't any bad memories," said Gareth.
Meghann described her father as an "incredible role model" who had an "unmovable, unshakeable faith".
"I really looked up to him and really wanted to please him and always listened intently to what he had to say."
Meghann's siblings said their father also listened to them.
Mrs Hemmings said her husband was a proud father. Flicking through countless family snapshots of their travels, she said he loved taking the family "exploring" NZ. Next weekend, they were going to Northland.
And last month, Mr Hemmings took his wife on a "trip down memory lane", back to her hometown of Gore in Southland.
The couple met after she saw Mr Hemmings' father, Dick, preaching, not long after she began teaching in Matamata, she said.
She thought Mr Hemmings snr was amazing and wondered if he had a son. The rest is history.
Yesterday, Dick Hemmings said news of his son's death had been "pretty rough".
"But his life was an apprenticeship ... There are greater rewards."
Mr Hemmings snr, a former Baptist preacher, said Austin grew up the youngest of three brothers in a dairy-farming Matamata family. He was very "aware politically" and theologically from a young age and never got into trouble. "He couldn't stand hypocrisy."
Craig Hemmings said that if his brother had one final message, it would involve improving the world.
"There's a lot of bad things happening and Austin wants to see that change ... He's got people all over New Zealand who love him because he was a man of high integrity and strong moral fibre ... You couldn't get a better guy. They should breed people like him."
Asked what Mr Hemmings would have wanted people to know, Craig said:
"Love your neighbour as yourself. If you do that, everything else falls into place. If you treat everyone else with respect, treat them with kindness, do all the things that we're taught by our parents that we should do, the world would be a better place. And Austin believed that."
Others at the family home, former workmates and his current colleagues, described Mr Hemmings as a mentor.
Workmate Rene Swindley said Mr Hemmings was always there to give him advice.
He said Mr Hemmings would say that if you lived a good life, wealth would follow.
Family and friends said he was fair and ethical in all his business dealings - a hard-working man of honesty and integrity.
"He worked as if he was working for the Lord," said Craig. "If you work for God you work as hard as you can."
Former neighbour Dale Banks described Mr Hemmings' death as "an absolute tragedy" for the family, who used to live in Rototuna.
"They were lovely, lovely people who loved their kids."
Police say Mr Hemmings may have saved the life of the woman he went to assist. She is said to be grieving also, for a man she did not know.
Asked if she had a message for that woman, Mrs Hemmings said: "Just think about God's love and consider a life of goodness."
The Hemmings family have asked that instead of flowers, people support Mr Hemmings' favourite charity, Bibles in Action, which raises money to distribute Bibles in the developing world. More information about the project can be found at www.biblesinaction.com
- additional reporting: James Ihaka
