Farewell – Celebrating the life of…

In memory of those in Kairos who have passed.

This page commemorates those in the Kairos family who have passed.

If you would like to include a former volunteer on this page, please send an email to the Kairos Support Office at operations@kairos.org.au

Guidelines are as follows:

Please keep each item to less than 500 words
Photos only with the family’s permission
Try to obtain input from more than one person
Include the names of the authors
Focus on their Kairos contribution – what, where and when

Categories: All Documents, Downloads, General

A tribute to Peter Francis

Peter Francis, a man of faith, humility, compassion, prayer, love for others & most of all, commitment, went to be with his beloved Lord on 26 June 2021 aged 78.

Peter had been diagnosed with a brain tumour over 3 years ago and in his own words he called this an “Adventure”. He wrote in December 2019 “It is not the sort of experience to be anticipated with great excitement, but it is a wonderful opportunity to call on our great God, and to give ourselves, more than ever before, to journey with Him.
God has been with me for every step of this adventure, and He has made this very, very clear to me. Of course I know that He is with me always and He will never abandon me.
He has told me this and I have no reason to doubt Him, but there are times when we might be particularly aware of His presence with us. This has been the case for me during recent times.”

Peter was a dedicated and loving father to his daughter Louise and devoted grandfather to his 2 grandsons. It was while taking his daughter to Sunday School he developed a strong faith and an abiding love of his Lord. His faith never waived from that time. In fact he subsequently went to Bible College and became a pastor.
Peter pastored in many churches. His sermons were always clear and he explained the Bible so that all could understand. His love for the Lord shone through his talks and he was always ready to listen to others. Peter was also a gifted a gifted musician and blessed many with his beautiful Welsh voice.

He was also an author, having published “God Talk” in 2014. This book was based on his journal of times spent with God, praying and listening to Him and explaining, in simple terms, God’s love and purpose for each one of us.

Peter became very involved in Emmaus, serving on many teams in the Sydney area as well as in regional areas, especially Bathurst.

Peter’s involvement in Kairos began in 2003 when he was on team in Silverwater Correctional Centre. After that he served on many Silverwater teams. In 2007 Peter was appointed to the Board of KPMA as the Spiritual Director and he remained on the Board until 2012. He was involved in Kairos Inside, Kairos Outside Women and Men, Torch and PFK (Preparation for Kairos).
He always treated the team and participants with respect, gentleness and grace, and always with a warm smile. Peter understood his ministry was to God’s people.

However not only was Peter involved in Kairos courses but also contributed greatly to the wellbeing and advancement of Kairos not only with his Board involvement but through conferences/meetings and especially talking with and listening to all the regions, even to the extent of visiting each region to gather advice as to how Kairos could be improved.

Whilst we are sad because Peter is no longer with us we rejoice that he is now in the safe hands of his precious Lord. We are so thankful to God for bringing Peter into our lives and for his amazing ministry to so many people from all walks of life.

A Thanksgiving Service will be arranged when times become more normal.

Terry Clancy & Mavis Hedrik

With contributions from Gill Begbie, Roberta Tsai, John Jenkins, Greg Setchell

A TRIBUTE TO MARGARET FULLER, OAM, 24th September 1940 - 20th March 2021

If you were fortunate enough to have served alongside Margaret Fuller, you would have recognised she was no ordinary woman. In fact, in many ways, Margaret was extraordinary. For decades she devoted her gifts, time and energy to some of the least valued people in society, having always had a heart for those in need and a desire for them to encounter the love of Jesus and His transformational power. Margaret served on the first Australian Kairos Inside team, held at the Parramatta Correctional Centre. She then became a regular member of Kairos teams in Long Bay and Emu Plains, going on to lead the first team at Berrima CC. Marg was always highly valued as a team member and leader because of her amazing capacity to nurture positive relationships and impart the skills and knowledge needed for effective ministry. Even until a few months before her death, Margaret carried out secretarial duties on the South Coast KI Ad Hoc Committee, supporting Jeff as the inaugural Chair.

Kairos short course participants loved Marg’s warmth, listening heart and the way she was able to explain difficult concepts so clearly. In turn, Margaret saw them as treasured people who
deserved to be treated with respect and compassion. She always made sure they knew how important they were to her, remembering past conversations, affirming them and never allowing the focus to be on herself. Margaret reflected God’s light in the darkness of prisons and brought His love and hope to many. She often said that true faith enters through the head, then to the heart and out through the feet.

Margaret Fuller also cared deeply about the often-forgotten ones, those women impacted by the imprisonment of friends or family members. Since first joining the Kairos Outside Sydney community in 2010, she regularly contributed her broad range of God-given gifts to create dynamic and relevant team formation sessions, leading a team in 2015. She then accepted the role of Advising Leader for the first Kairos Outside weekend held in 2016 at Tuross Heads.
Margaret‘s impact on the Kairos ministry was nationwide. Along with Jeff, she served on the 3 Kairos Board from August 2000 until July 2006. As programs began to open up in women’s prisons and through Kairos Outside, she took on the important role of ‘Women’s Ministry Coordinator’. Later, Margaret joined the national Program Support and Development Group for Kairos
Outside established in 2009, serving for 5 years. Her abilities were harnessed through 8 years as
a national trainer. She also made a significant contribution to the 2016 Australian Kairos
Outside manual, in particular the pivotal section on team skill building. Margaret‘s vast
professional experience meant that she knew how to guide others to create their own solutions and resolve difficulties.

Margaret Fuller was a valued member of the Kairos community, a dear sister and friend, irreplaceable - one of a kind. Even though our hearts break, particularly for Jeff and the family, we rejoice that Marg now soars on eagle’s wings and is safe in God’s hands having received a
hero’s welcome.

Vale, Rex Chapman (2021)

The first thing one noticed about Rex Chapman when you met him was the expression “ a man's man”, a battler, as echoed by his supportive wife, Helen, and for that he will be remembered for a long, long time, particularly as we consider the prolonged struggle he had with health in the last year or two.

As a man who worked (hard) with his hands and never took short cuts Rex was a great asset to Kairos and as anyone who had the opportunity to work with him will appreciate he had a heart for others born out of his faith in the God he served with passion.

Rex first came on team in 2013 but it was soon obvious his heart for the men in green was deep and by 2018 he led his team at MNCCC with great results. All that time and until Covid struck he continued to support the men with the weekly Journey programme, impressing them with his down to earth approach to faith and his love of Jesus. His greatest asset was to make friends instantly...just one of the boys! If there was a need to be physical, Rex would usually put his hand up as when putting up or fixing fences...as his email address recorded, “rexthegate”!

He lived with a deep conviction that people needed help and encouragement. Old and young, good and bad and ugly. And being a man’s man, he fell with great comfort into countless mentoring, fathering roles, just being a ‘mate’ to blokes. It was a gift and a passion with Rex. It was his ‘Mission field! I can only hope that when I ‘Cut Out’ (as Rex would call finishing a fencing job), that I’ve stuck to the task which God has given me with such tenacity.

I love that he took Tuesdays off so that he and Helen could spend a whole day every week with his grandchildren, I could see from the contents of his prayers all those Wednesday mornings, that if something wasn’t right in his family, it was the priority in his prayer life, and frankly, I want to be more like that. I cherished our friendship, count the time I had with Rex as a privilege, and say with absolutely no hesitation, “Job well done my good brother”.

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Farewell – Celebrating the life of…

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2024-11 - Trevor Bail

2024-09 - Margaret Irwin

2024-04 - John Spriggs

2024-03 - Francis Patrick Carrol

2022-04 Dorothy Snushall

2021-11 Sharn O'Har

2021-11 John Bashford

2021-07 Peter Francis

2021-05 Paul Page

2021-03 Margaret Fuller

2021- Rex Chapman

2021 - Heather Graham

2024-04 - John Spriggs