A teenager killed in a devastating bus crash told her boyfriend she loved him during their last conversation.
Tia Cameron, 18, was tragically killed after a bus drove up a curb and pinned her against a building in Brisbane’s CBD just after 8pm. 17 on Friday 8 March.
Her emotional funeral service at Brisbane’s Hillsong Theater on Thursday morning heard Ms Cameron had always wanted to be a mother, travel the world and buy a home with her partner Hayden Mckinlay.
A powerful tribute read on behalf of Mr Mckinlay spoke of their love and future plans together, the Courier mail reported.
‘I will forever miss our little calls, I will wait everyday for the phone to ring just to hear your voice. The last words we said to each other were ‘I love you’ and we really meant it,” he said.
Tia Cameron (pictured) was tragically killed after a bus mounted a curb and pinned her against a building during the evening rush hour in Brisbane’s CBD on Friday 8 March
‘We had so much of our lives planned together, buying our first home next year, traveling away.
Tia wanted to go to New Zealand at the end of the year to see the snow and her family. Our life together was so happy.’
Mckinlay said March 8 was the day he lost his ‘sunflower’, the girl of his dreams.
“Tia was my world and my rock, we shared everything … I can’t imagine what my life will be like now without my forever Tia in it,” he said.
Friends and family gathered at the funeral remembered the ‘bold’ and ‘vivacious’ young woman, many of whom, including her aunt Karma Te Awhitu, just called T.
“My beloved T, standing here today and saying goodbye to you is the most painful thing imaginable,” said Te Awhitu.
‘I fell in love with you from the moment you were born and I never stopped loving you.
‘You brought sunshine to my life and looking around here today, it’s quite clear you did the same for many other people.’
The aunt said she would miss her niece’s laugh, ‘questionable’ sense of humor and ‘dorkiness’.
‘You had plans to study and further your education. You had plans to travel. You always talked about being a mom, even from a very young age, and I knew you would be a great mom one day.
“I’m so sorry bub that this has been taken away from you but I promise to keep your memory alive…fly high my angel.”
Funeral attendant Dawn Louise said: ‘You wouldn’t wonder what (Tia) thought because she would tell you.
‘In her work at the Brisbane Club, she was the perfect front desk person, the director of first impressions, and the impression she left was always a good one.’
Mrs Louise also spoke of how Mrs Cameron longed to be a mother “but in the meantime she adopted and cared for a menagerie of animals”.
An emotional funeral on Thursday morning heard Tia Cameron (pictured) had always wanted to be a mum, travel the world and buy a home with her partner Hayden Mckinlay
Tia Cameron (pictured) has been remembered for having a great laugh and for her ‘dorkiness’
The celebrant added that ‘She was an old soul. She gave her mother a purpose in life and when she left us she gave us all a reminder of the brevity of life.’
Mckinlay’s mother, Christine Melrose, has created one GoFundMe page for Mrs. Cameron’s family.
Last Saturday Brisbane City Council said the brakes on the bus that killed Ms Cameron had been tested last month.
Among the mourners at her funeral were Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and his wife Nina.
The bus that killed Tia Cameron in Brisbane on Friday March 8 at about