JourneyOnline
A memorial service will be held in Mackay this Wednesday for Rev Tony Paynter who died suddenly last Wednesday of a suspected heart attack.
Mr Paynter had been minister of St Pauls and Armitage Uniting Church congregations and is survived by his wife Beth, four children and six grandchildren. He was 69.
His wife reported that Mr Paynter had been mowing the lawn when he collapsed and paramedics had tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
Colleague and Northside Uniting Church Minister in Mackay Rev Ian Wilson said that Tony could have been retired for a few years but had accepted a call to come and take an intentional interim ministry in Mackay.
"Tony was an unassuming man, down to earth, always ready to tell a joke, or to recount a story from his past life experience working as a teacher, a taxi driver or a patrol padre in the bush," Mr Wilson told the Daily Mercury.
The Moderator Rev Dr David Pitman expressed the sympathy of the Queensland Synod and offered heartfelt prayers for Mrs Paynter and the family and the congregations in which Mr Paynter ministered.
A memorial service will be held in the St Paul’s Church, Macalister Street, Mackay at 2.00pm on Wednesday, 5 April.
Photo : Rev Tony Paynter
