LARGE of frame and loud of voice, Shane Dewhurst could not help but leave an indelible impression on everyone he met.
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The straight-talking, fiercely loyal, devoted family man could strike – and hold – a conversation with just about anybody.
This gift is why so many mourners will descend on St Paul’s church tomorrow to celebrate the life of a man taken too soon.
“He just accepted everyone,” daughter Kira said.
“He’d always come across as tough, but he wasn’t. He was a big teddy bear.”
The Tamworth father, grandfather and father-figure’s sudden death at the age of 46, following an asthma attack on April 4, has shocked and saddened the community.
Schooled at Tamworth High, Shane left at 15 to start work as an apprentice mechanic at a service station run by his parents, Tony and Joy.
“He was a hard and conscientious worker,” Tony said of his son, who was a keen fisherman and drag racer.
“Everything he did had to be perfect. There was no cutting corners.”
Blessed with an active mind and entrepreneurial streak, at 21 he opened his own business, Shane’s Chevy Performance Centre, which was followed by S&T Windscreens, Tamworth Boat Sales and Hunter Ski Boats.
“You’d think he was sound asleep sometimes and all of a sudden this voice would go ‘So I was thinkin’, if I put that motor on this ...” said partner Sharon Brown.
“These ideas would just pop out of his head.”
The ideas were there but it was a manic work ethic fuelled by his desire to succeed for children Kira and Brendan, and later grandchildren Anna-Belle and Evie-Mae, that brought them to fruition.
“Everything he touched turned to gold,” sister Kerryn said.
“He was just so enthusiastic and passionate.
“He just wanted to be a success for Kira and Brendan. They were his motivation.”
Shane’s strong paternal instinct was never more apparent than during a battle for custody of his two children.
“When we were little, it wasn’t the done thing for a man to have full custody,” Kira said.
“But Dad fought and fought and fought to get custody of Brendan and I. There was no option for us to be anywhere else than with him.”
The funeral will take place at St Paul’s Anglican Church in West Tamworth from 2.30pm before interment at Lincoln Grove Memorial Gardens.
Shane’s love of all engine-powered machines will see a procession of Harley Davidson motorcycles accompany his coffin on its final journey tomorrow.
“I think Tamworth has lost a really dedicated community person,” Tony said.
