THE father of Australian actor and Coffs Coast local Russell Crowe was honoured with a memorial service in a uniquely beautiful chapel on his son’s Nana Glen property on Saturday 5 June.

John Alexander Crowe, 85, unexpectedly passed away on Tuesday 30 March in Coffs Harbour after he collapsed on a flight from Sydney to Coffs Harbour and was unable to be revived.

He had lived in Coffs Harbour for the past 25 years.

Crowe took to social media shortly after his father’s passing to announce the sad news.

“My dear old man, my beautiful dad, the most gentle of men, has passed away,” Russell wrote on his Twitter account.

“I had a father who’s pride in my efforts gave me strength.

“I had a father I wish for everyone else.”

On Saturday, Russell hosted a private memorial service for his beloved father in a chapel on his Nana Glen property which he said his dad had loved.

“He was fascinated by it,” Russell stated on his Facebook page before the memorial.

“Pretty sure he’d be pleased.”

The chapel has held weddings (including Russell’s 2003 wedding to Danielle Spencer), string quartets, soloists, opera singers, meditation, prayer, and yoga over the years, and now it’s first funeral/memorial.

Russell posted footage of the chapel and a string quartet playing to attendees of the memorial on his Twitter account on Sunday and wrote on his tweet that the best quote from the memorial service was one from his late father to his granddaughter.

“Don’t hang out with glass half full, glass half empty people… hang out with people who know the glass is always refillable,” Russell tweeted.

At the end of May, Russell told his Twitter followers about the upcoming memorial for his father and suggested that in lieu of flowers they make a donation in his father’s name to the Charlie Teo Foundation at https://charlieteofoundation.org.au/donation/.

 

By Emma DARBIN