A funeral for the former Timaru Church of Tonga Pastor who went missing off the South Canterbury coast was formally held on Saturday.
JOHN BISSET / The Timaru Herald
Lionati Fotofili, known as Lio, was swept out to sea in the early hours of December 30, 2022, while fishing for his congregation’s New Year’s Day lunch at the Ōpihi River Mouth.
LandSAR volunteers, the South Canterbury Coastguard, South Canterbury Helicopters, and Police Search and Rescue staff launched a search for Fotofili, but a few days later, it was scaled back.
Several items linked to Fotofili have been found for over one month, but there was no sign of him.
In February this year, just over a year after he went missing, his remains were found.
Born in Tonga, Fotofili was the father of two boys who were 14 and 14-months-old when he disappeared.
Stuff reported that Fotofili’s former Timaru Alliance Smithfield plant colleagues Karen Morris and Wiremu Rassmussen both said they had been lucky to meet him.
“We will remember his big heart,’’ Morris said.
“We were lucky enough to be involved with his cheeky sense of humour. A little bit of Lio lives in us all – in the hearts and minds of everyone.’’
Reading Fotofili’s eulogy, his wife Suliana Fotofili quoted Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “For everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”
“It is my greatest honour to stand before you to read my dearly beloved husband’s eulogy,’’ she said.
She thanked all of those who had supported her family since Fotofili went missing.
“Thank you for walking beside us.’’
