We Remember

Maddeline Lea

Our school community was deeply saddened to lose Year 9 student Maddeline Lea earlier this month. Maddie joined Moama Anglican Grammar earlier this year and was a sweet and kind girl who loved horses and riding dirt bikes. We are all poorer for losing Maddie’s beautiful smile – which could light up a room – and her sensitive soul.

Although we knew Maddie only briefly, it was an absolute privilege to share time with her at Moama Anglican Grammar.

The following is the speech written and delivered by Ruby Wallace, close friend of Maddie at the Memorial held at school Wednesday 14 June. On this day, all secondary students were invited to light a candle in her memory.

By now I'm sure we all know that Maddie suffered through tough times in her life that we were not entirely aware of. Although the bad things made a huge impact on her, it did not impact how she spoke and acted towards people. The good things definitely overran anything else in this case, as every single person, not only this room, but everywhere, remembers Maddie as the fun loving, kind hearted, sweet and generous girl that she was.

From the very first day I met Maddie in kindergarten I knew we would be great friends. A conversation was easily started and horses and Barbie dolls were always brought up. From time to time, we rode horses together and one day I asked my mum if I could get one. Her response was always, “Go to Maddie’s.”

My most vivid memory of Maddie as a young girl was how she managed to find pleasure in eating almost anything including grass, glue sticks and who could pass up on the play dough?

I can remember walking into her bedroom ready to use the glue stick for some arts and crafts and finding teeth marks in it.

I am positive that I'm not the only person with wonderful memories of Maddie that make us laugh just as much as they did on the day that they happened. Going through seven years of primary school growing up with Maddie changed me as a person as she taught me to find the positives in the littlest moments. The way someone smiles, the way someone laughs, the way someone speaks, all reflect how happiness is spread and Maddie knew how to do this in the most significant ways.

As Maddie and I drifted away during the first years of high school, I remember getting the message that she sent me saying that she was moving to Grammar. As soon as I read the message, I was ecstatic to know that I would have my Maddie back. She made wonderful friends here at school very quickly and settled into our class beautifully. It was meant to be.

Every morning as I walked onto the bus I got a friendly hello and every night as I got off the bus there was a friendly goodbye. The simplest things that she did made me smile and everyone that travels on the Deniliquin bus can agree with me.

We are here today to not only say goodbye to someone we love dearly, but most of all to remember her. Remember her in the best way we possibly could, as her bubbly personality, kind heart and huge smile will never be forgotten.

Our prayers, thoughts and sympathies remain with the family and we continue to extend our community’s care to them.

Over the past few weeks, I have watched our school and wider community come together in support to care for our own. The strength and courage of all during difficult times is what makes our school so very special. Our core values and theme this year of “relationships”, has been demonstrated daily and I can’t express how much it has meant to the school to be able to lean on these strong and deep foundations.

We thank the schools in this region for their support particularly, St Joseph’s College and Echuca College for sending their counsellors to our school day after day to support our students. We thank Christ Church, our Parents’ and Friends’ and many individual families for providing food/soup, coffee van and other small everyday things that made the days that little bit easier. We thank the families of our Year 9’s particularly, for the support provided at home and on weekends as they coped with the loss of our friend and classmate.

We thank Natalie, Andrew, Cassie and Bryce for allowing us to be a part of their lives.

Shine bright like a diamond, beautiful like diamonds in the sky.

Vale Maddeline Lea.

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost