Son born to widow of Queenstown glider victim

Pauline Scotland and son Drew, who was born five months after his father died in a hang-glider...
Pauline Scotland and son Drew, who was born five months after his father died in a hang-glider crash near Queenstown, in March. Photo by The New Zealand Herald.
When Pauline Scotland looks at her newborn son, she cannot help but see the beloved husband who died before the baby was born.

Mrs Scotland was four months' pregnant when her husband, popular Waipu volunteer firefighter Andrew "Scotty" Scotland (34), died in a hang-glider crash near Queenstown, in March.

She was there when her husband plunged 300m to his death with Argentine pilot Gerardo Bean (27).

Mrs Scotland gave birth to healthy, 6lb 10oz Drew Michael Scotland on August 14 - about 10 days early.

"It was a pretty emotional time.

"I missed my husband's strength really," she said.

Drew, like his older brother Aydan (3), looks like his father.

"When I look at him, I think about what a great dad he missed out on.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on him to be like his father's prodigy, so to speak."

Though Aydan enjoyed having a little brother, it was also a tough time for him.

"One minute you have two doting parents, and then you have got one, and then you have only got half a one that you have to share with a baby.

"So he's struggling a little bit.

"Aydan . . . tells me all the time he's going to grow up to be like Dad.

"He says `I want to grow up one day and drive Dad's truck' that I've still got, and things like that.

"Hopefully, he remembers."

The birth of Drew was like a double-edged sword.

"It brings you the pleasure of a new baby.

"But the usual things that you cope with, I don't cope that well with.

"Upset nights and things like that, where before it was just the fact of being a parent."

She feels fortunate with all the support she has had.

"It's not like we have been put aside and forgotten about.

"There's thousands of people that have offered help.

"But you have lost your right-hand person.

"There's nobody there to lean on . . ."

An inquest is still to be held into the deaths of Mr Scotland and Mr Bean, while the Civil Aviation Authority is also investigating.

But Mrs Scotland said: "In the end, to me, what's it going to change?"

 

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