REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA OF MH17 (JULY 17, 2014)

            Every year on July 17, we, the comrades of Unit 1012, will remember the 298 people killed on the plane, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014. We will post information about those victims from across Australia.

"So long as we live, they too shall live and love for they are a part of us as we remember them."

- Gates of Prayer

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/mh17/victims-from-across-australia-lost-in-the-downing-of-mh17/story-fno88it0-1226994454239?nk=877b6d57fe0dc2030faf0bceba1ab4a3

Victims from across Australia lost in the downing of MH17

The Australian

July 21, 2014 4:37PM

NSW: GABRIELE LAUSCHET

 

Gabrielle Lauschet, 47.

The Sydney kindergarten teacher was returning from her German homeland on MH17, in order to start a new school term at the German International School in Terrey Hills.

Lauschet, 47, has been described as “the most selfless person”, with friends and colleagues at the school where she taught for 15 years shocked to hear of her death.

“There are no words to describe your loss dear Gaby, you sure brighten many lives on your path and will do for years to come. You leave us love and respect for life. Will miss you immensely,” Joel, from Sydney, wrote on Facebook.

“Shocking, can’t believe she will not be in school on Monday. Will miss her greatly,” wrote Gudrun Daniels.

Antje Eildermann wrote: “I so agree with all of you. She touched and brightened my/our life, the most selfless person I ever got to know.”

WA: DAFNE NIEVEEN

Dafne Nieveen, 37. Picture: Andrew Ritchie.

A Perth language teacher Dafne Nieveen has been remembered as a kindhearted woman who touched the hearts of many.

The Dutch citizen was returning to her home of four years from an education conference in the Netherlands when she boarded doomed flight MH17.

The 37-year-old moved to Perth four years ago with boyfriend Werner Lupker after falling in love with Australia while travelling.

Mr Lupker, of Karrinyup, led a moving tribute to Ms Nieveen on Facebook.

“MH17 was Your Last and Final Flight Home,” he wrote.

“You will never really leave us for you are everywhere that is beautiful.

“When the sun rises in the sky and sets beneath the shoreline, it shines your beauty on everything it touches.” Friends have also turned to social media to express their grief. “Dear Dafne, I’m going to miss you terribly ... What a sick world,” Twitter user Caroline Meijer wrote in Dutch.

Perth woman Claire Geoff Westwood said she felt “so proud” to count Ms Nieveen as a friend.

“Daf will be loved and missed always, she touched so many people with her beautiful heart, she is a one of a kind,” she wrote on Facebook.

WA: MO, OTIS AND EVIE MASLIN

Mo, 12, Otis, 8, and Evie Maslin, 10.

The Maslin children died with their grandfather Nick Norris (see below) on Flight MH17. The three children were travelling back to Perth with their grandfather. Their parents stayed behind in Amsterdam for a few more days.

At the weekend, Mo’s junior football coach Troy Ramshaw remembered the youngster who shared the ball around like a “great team man”. “He was just a pleasure to have around,” Mr Ramshaw said.

WA: NICK NORRIS

Nick Norris, 68.

Nick Norris offered to take his grandchildren home ahead of their parents Rin Norris and Anthony Maslin, so they could get back to school for the start of term.

Norris was a former bush school principal turned management government consultant and a popular member of the South Perth Yacht Club.

A sailing club friend told Fairfax radio on Friday that Mr Norris was friendly, chatty and a very keen sailor. “He was just a lovely bloke.”

QLD: WAYNE AND THERESA BAKER

Theresa, 52, and Wayne Baker, 55.

Theresa and Wayne Baker have two sons, aged in their 20s. The Bakers were based in Buddina on the Sunshine Coast but also lived in Darwin. They recently retired from the public service and had been travelling around Europe for six weeks. The president of the Darwin Trailer Boat Club, Tony Butler, said the couple were about to begin a big adventure.

“They built a house over in Queensland, and the trip over to Europe was the start of their retirement,” Mr ­Butler said. “They were good, family ­people.”

WA: ARJEN AND YVONNE RYDER

Yvonne and Arjen Ryder, who were on board flight MH17. Pictured here in France during their holiday: "Arrived safely at Toul in France we on the boat enjoying a drink. After a long delay with train strikes....:-)"

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/mh17/victims-from-across-australia-lost-in-the-downing-of-mh17/story-fno88it0-1226994454239?nk=877b6d57fe0dc2030faf0bceba1ab4a3]

Arjen Ryder was a senior employee at the WA Department of Agriculture, his wife Yvonne a special needs teacher. The couple, who lived in Western Australia’s south at Albany, had visited Mr Ryder’s family in the Netherlands.

Mr Ryder was a top agricultural researcher who fought salinity for 30 years and helped rehabilitate thousands of hectares of land in the State. One of his closest colleagues, Ruhi Ferdowsian, who worked alongside Mr Ryder at the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA) for almost 40 years and co-authored several books and research papers on salinity, said the news was “devastating”.

Ryder, was due to return to work at the department on Monday when he was to receive a special award for 30 years of service as a senior technical officer.

Mr Ferdowsian said: “He made a lot of difference because salinity is a big issue. I was a senior resource officer and Arj was a senior technical officer working with me all these years since 1985. He was such a beautiful person. A lovely smile comes to mind. He was very approachable.”

Mr Ryder was a deacon at his local free reform church. His wife taught at a local Christian school.

WA: EDEL MAHADY

Edel Mahady, 50.

Edel Mahady, 50, was originally from Ireland and had lived in Perth for 20 years. Mrs Mahady’s husband and two children did not go on the trip to visit her elderly mother in the Dublin area. A source told the Irish Independent they are “devastated” and “numb with shock and grief.” She worked as a school administrator at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School in Kelmscott in outer-suburban Perth

WA: FATIMA DYCZYNSKI

Fatima Dyczynski, 24.

Fatima Dyczynski, 24, was eager to be travelling to Perth to join her parents Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski and George Dyczynski and take up an internship with IBM.

It was to be a reunion with her family, but also with the country she had come to love, having previously spent a year at school in Perth and now having a career hurtling towards her ambitions to be an astronaut.

Her business partner Norman Noordervliet was too upset to speak from Delft, not far from where Ms Dyczynski studied to ­realise her dream, but on the company website was written: ­“Fatima was energetic, full of life and her dreams reached to the outermost of space.

QLD: ROGER AND JILL GUARD

Jill and Roger Guard.

The two doctors had been on holiday through Asia and Europe and attended a medical conference in Amsterdam.

Son Paul told The Sunday Mail that his parents had been excited about the trip, which included visiting relatives in Devon and cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam.

Speaking on behalf of his siblings Amanda and David, Paul said the couple were “wonderful parents and grandparents’’, who were “utterly devoted’’ to their three children and loved their two grandchildren dearly.

Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio said their loss would be felt throughout the Darling Downs region. “Dr Guard was one of the best. He was an outstanding doctor and was well known as a great member of the community,” Mr Antonio said.

QLD: HELENA SIDELIK

Helena Sidelik, 56.

A Gold Coast resident, Sidelik was originally from Adelaide and moved to Burleigh Heads from Melbourne about four years ago. She had been on holiday in Greece before attending a friend’s wedding in Amsterdam — something her brother Hans told The Sunday Mail was “the trip of a lifetime”.

She was an active member of the beachside suburb’s Vision Personal Training studio. Club manager Damien Glynn mourned her loss on the club’s Facebook page.

“It is with great sadness and remorse that we have to “say goodbye to our much loved family member of Vision Burleigh, Helena, Big H, Mona, aunty H,” he wrote.

NT: EMMA BELL

Emma Bell, 30.

Bell, a teacher at Maningrida College, was a graduate of Lithgow High School in NSW. She joined the staff at the Arnhem Land college early last year. Ms Bell was holidaying in Europe and travelling back to Darwin prior to the start of the new school term next week.

College principal Stuart Dwyer said there were few dry eyes in Maningrida.

“Everyone out here is quite … devastated about what happened,” he said.

NSW: VICTOR ORESHKIN

Victor Oreshkin.

THE parents of Victor Oreshkin waited at the arrivals terminal at Sydney airport on Friday morning for a son who would never appear.

Mr Oreshkin is believed to be in his mid thirties and from Lidcombe in Sydney’s west. A religious man of Russian descent, he was a devoted member of the Lidcombe Slavic Evangelical Pentecostal Church.

Mr Oreshkin’s Facebook page reveals he was a NSW Blues supporter and keen fisherman. His page was peppered with motivational memes and religious adages.

“Be yourself, no matter what other people think, God made you the way you are for a reason.” Mr Oreshkin posted on his Facebook wall.

“Only 7 days before I leave for overseas,” Mr Oreshkin posted as a Facebook status on June 10th. The week before he had helped coordinate a youth conference at his church.

“My good mate. We’ll see you there in the sky,” Mr Oreshkin’s friend Daniel Digga Jez posted on Facebook in Russian after learning of his loss.

NSW: PHILOMENE TIERNAN

Sister Philomene Tiernan, 77.

Sister Philomene Tiernan was a senior member of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart order of Catholic nuns. She was a former provincial of the order and a key teacher and leader at the Kincoppal-Rose Bay School in Sydney. She was on her way home from a family commemoration of the death of her uncle, a pilot shot down over Amsterdam in World War II.

Hilary Johnston-Croke, the school principal, wrote to parents on Friday to confirm the loss of her “wise and compassionate” colleague.

“We are devastated by the loss of such a wonderfully kind, wise and compassionate woman who was greatly loved by us all,” she wrote.

“This has come as an enormous shock to me and our school community as I am sure it will to all of you.”

Mrs Johnston-Croke described Sister Philomene as her mentor.

“Phil was a very much loved staff member and friend,” she said. “She contributed greatly to our community and she touched the lives of all at KRB in such a positive and meaningful way.”

NSW: CAROL AND MICHAEL CLANCY

Carol and Michael Clancy.

The couple from Wollongong had been on a three-week trip to Europe to celebrate Mr Clancy’s retirement. Both were primary school teachers of special needs students and Mrs Clancy had taught at Lakelands Public School and Fig Tree Public School.

Carol Clancy’s devastated daughter Jane Malcolm fought back tears as she tried to comprehend why someone would want to hurt her mother.

“(Michael) had recently retired and they were going overseas for a big trip and we found out this morning it had been shot down,” Ms Malcolm said. “We’ll get through this but it’s horrific.”

NSW: JACK O’BRIEN

Jack O’Brien, 25.

The family of Jack O’Brien, of Sydney, issued a statement describing the devastation of learning that the 25-year-old was among the MH17 victims.

“The life of our beloved son and brother, Jack, has been ended so suddenly. We are devastated at his loss, as are Jack’s extended family and friends. Jack, just 25 years old, was returning from a fantastic seven week holiday in Europe. He was loved so much.”

O’Brien was a keen Western Sydney Wanderers fan who helped found the Red and Black Bloc supporters club.

VIC: VAN DEN HENDE/DEWA FAMILY

The Van Den Hende family, from left, Piers, Shaliza, Margaux, Marnix and Hans.

Hans van den Hende, his wife Shaliza Dewa, and their children Piers, 15, Marnix, 12, and Margaux, 8, lived in Eynesbury, in a new estate 40km west of Melbourne.

The couple met in England and moved to Melbourne in 2009. Piers, 13, played soccer at Melton Phoenix, while Marnix was a keen swimmer and Margaux a dancer.

Tanya Willmott, a close family friend, said the openness and calm, rural setting of Eynesbury drew the Van de Hendes there.

“They were really good people,’’ she said simply. “They didn’t deserve to leave this place.”

VIC: ITAMAR AVNON

 

Itamar Avnon, 27.

The 27-year-old Dutch national Itamar Avnon was a student at Melbourne’s Swinburne University, living in Windsor. He had been visiting his family in Amsterdam and attended a wedding in Israel. He was on his way back to Australia to resume his business studies.

VIC: LIAM AND FRANCESCA DAVISON

Frankie, 54, and Liam Davison, 58.

Francesca ‘Frankie’ Davison was teacher at Toorak College, Mornington Peninsula. Liam Davison was an award-winning novelist and teacher. His novels include Soundings; The Velodome; The White Woman; and The Betrayal.

Critic Peter Pierce said he was “an elegant writer unobliged to fashion”. Mr Davison was a passionate cyclist and rode with the Morington Cycling Club.

Frankie Davison’s death devastated the community at Toorak College where she taught literature, English and the humanities for 28 years.

VIC: MARIE AND ALBERT RIZK

Albert Rizk, left, and wife Maree, second right.

Albert Rizk was a real estate agent and director of Raine & Horne in Sunbury. The couple, who left a daughter Vanessa and son James (pictured above), were travelling with two friends. The friends caught an earlier flight back to Australia, while the Rizks flew on MH17.

In a tragic twist of fate, Marie’s stepmother, Kaylene Mann, lost her brother and sister-in law, Rodney and Mary Burrows, on MH370 when it disappeared without trace.

The Rizks were actively involved in the Sunbury Football Club: Albert on the committee and Marie working in the canteen on game days.

Sunbury councillor Jack Ogilvie told the Herald Sun that Rizk was “one of the best blokes to have a beer with”.

VIC: ELAINE TEOH AND EMIEL MAHLER

Elaine Teoh, 27, and Emiel Mahler, 27.

Elaine Teoh was a finance supervisor at IG Australia, and Emiel Mahler a Dutch national and foreign exchange trader at Vanguard Australia. The couple, both aged 27, lived in Melbourne and worked together at IG before Mr Mahler last December joined Vanguard.

IG Australia said in a statement that she and Mr Mahler were “beloved members of our close IG community and were valued members of our team”.

Ms Teoh was originally from Penang, Malaysia. She was a graduate of the University of Melbourne, receiving a Bachelor of Commerce in 2008.

VIC: MARCO GRIPPELING

Marco Grippeling, 48.

Grippeling’s wife Angela had been holidaying with him in the Netherlands, his home country, but she returned to Australia on an earlier flight. They had been married just three years.

He had worked in the IT sector for more than 18 years, and most recently worked with Rio Tinto. He was an expert on identifying threats from organised crime and state-sponsored terrorism.

“Marco’s wife, family and friends both in Australia and Holland are completely devastated by their loss,” a spokesman told news.com.au. “They are ask for respect and privacy during this very difficult time.’’

VIC: MARY AND GERRY MENKE

Mary and Gerry Menke

The Menkes’ habit was to escape the cold of Mallacoota in Victoria each year, spending a few weeks in the European sun. Mr Menke had spent 40 years diving for abalone in the Southern Ocean and was instrumental in developing the state’s abalone pearl aquaculture industry. The couple are thought to have gone overseas to celebrate his 70th birthday.

ACT: LILIANE DERDEN

Liliane Derden, 50.

Liliane Derden worked for the National Health & Medical Research Council in Canberra. The mother of two lived at Hall, in the city’s south.

ACT acting chief minister Andrew Barr said the tragedy was devastating news for Ms Derden’s family and friends.

QLD: HOWARD AND SUSAN HORDER

Howard and Susan Horder.

The couple from Albany Creek, Brisbane, were returning home from visiting son David in London, having also taken in an Andre Rieu concert in Maastrict.

Glenn Horder told The Courier Mail that his brother Howard had joked before the holiday that he’d only bought a one-way ticket, given Malaysia Airline’s MH370 disaster.

The couple, who were both keen caravaners, had been married for 40 years and had three sons and two grandchildren.

VIC: MONA AND GARY LEE

The Lees, from Glen Iris, had been on a European holiday that included a cruise.

Gary, a retiree, had run a Chinese restaurant in the Melbourne CBD while his wife Mona, was a schoolteacher.

The couple had moved to Melbourne from Malaysia in the 70s. The couple have two daughters, both doctors, who live in Melbourne.

Daughter Melissa Lee told Yahoo7! that her parents were avid Essendon Bombers fans who had been indulging their love of travelling since her father retired.

Additional reporting: AAP