At the hospital the “Mr Kajewski” who was shown the baby was Charlie Kajewski who lived in Mt Isa at that time. Stephen was a beautiful baby and we were all thrilled to have him in our lives.  Dad was particularly excited and celebrated with Bill Gladstone and their Normanton friends for many hours.  

Helen and I used to help Mum as much as possible with Stephen and I recall many afternoons in Normanton when our little friends would come over and watch Mum bath Stephen.

Stephen’s Baptism was unforgettable.  He was baptised at St Peter’s Anglican Church Normanton by Father Peter Thompson when he was a month old.  Father Peter was married to an islander lady named Joanna and they had six daughters.  They used their talents to decorate the font in leis of flowers.  Bill and Marnie Gladstone and Aunty Jennifer are Stephen’s Godparents and they have all remained a strong and loving part of Stephen’s entire life.

At the end of 1977, Neville was transferred by the Department of Primary Industries and became the Stock Inspector at Murgon. Stephen attended Kindy at Wondai and started Pre-School at Murgon.

In January 1983, Neville was again transferred and the family moved to Gayndah where they lived until early 1991. Stephen began and completed his primary education and started high school at Gayndah.

From an early age, Stephen loved to dress up and become a different character.  He enjoyed performing in various dramatic productions throughout his life.  One that stands out is when he dressed as a harem girl for a Year 7 production and shimmied in front of the Shire Chairman of Gayndah.   Stephen’s rendition of Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky” had to be seen to be believed.

Stephen was a very high achiever throughout his schooling and received many awards.  In 1988, Stephen won an Australia-wide multicultural essay writing competition.  His prize included a trip to Canberra (with Mum) where they dined at Parliament House, met Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

Early 1991 saw another transfer for Neville – this time to Emerald.  By this time Bethlea and Helen were both working and no longer living with us.  Bethlea lived nearby in Emerald and Helen lived in Biloela.

Stephen resumed High School at Emerald and rose to the challenges of modern education. He was a top student and was talented in art music and dance.  In 1993, while at Emerald State High he was one of 100 students chosen by the Queens Trust for Australian Youth to meet in Canberra and advise the government about young peoples issues. During 1993, he was one of the organisers of the Landcare Australia national conference held at Emerald. He and a friend wrote the opening song which Stephen performed at this conference.

By about Easter 1994, it was apparent things weren’t going well for Stephen. He had recurrent illness with symptoms like chronic fatigue syndrome. His school work suffered and the normally brilliant Stephen was not passing his subjects.  We now know all this was the onset of mental illness that he suffered and controlled for the rest of his life.

Because of his illness, Neville asked for and received approval to transfer to Rockhampton where Stephen could receive appropriate treatment and have his condition constantly monitored.  This move was a very positive one for Stephen. He was discharged from hospital on the 20th December 1994 and was not readmitted for another four years.

Stephen resumed his education at Glenmore State High School in 1995 where he again excelled, winning academic blue and ultimately achieving an OP2.

As soon as his illness was under control, Stephen confirmed what we thought might be the case – he was gay.  This was a very challenging time for us all.  To cope with the prejudices that still abound in our enlightened society it is necessary for the whole family to ‘come out’.  For us, ‘coming out’ with Stephen and accepting his gender difference enabled us to provide the support our gentle boy needed in an homophobic world.

Having achieved an OP2 many potential career options opened to Stephen.  He finally chose speech pathology at Queensland University at St Lucia.  Over the next 6 years he lived on campus at St John’s College and graduated as a Speech Pathologist.   It was a long and difficult road for him at Uni, but we were so proud when he finally succeeded and became a Speech Pathologist.  This was one of his greatest achievements.

During this time he was awarded two scholarships. One was a remote area medical scholarship from the Health Department designed to encourage health professionals to practice in rural areas. The other was from St John’s College.  This was not an academic award but acknowledged his exemplary behaviour while in residence.

After qualifying, Stephen practised as a Speech Pathologist at Woody Point for about a year.  However, it was evident that his condition and medication would not allow him to practice full time so in July 2004 he came back home to Rockhampton and has lived there with Mum and Dad ever since.

Stephen’s first love, though, was always his art and this is what he came back to in recent years.  He was blessed with a genuine flair for creating visual masterpieces and those who have examples of these now realise how priceless they really are.   Stephen seemed to lose himself in his paintings and would spend many hours getting the colours just right. 

We were so proud whenever Stephen’s oil paintings were exhibited, but more so than ever recently when his works were featured in an Emerging Artists Exhibition in Yeppoon.  He also won 3rd prize at the 2007 Rockhampton Show for a portrait he did of his friend and neighbour Paul.  Encouraged by many, he has been working towards having his own exhibition.

Stephen enjoyed anything at all to do with art and has been completing a Visual Arts course at TAFE for the past two years, as well as being involved with the Contemporary artists society and Royal Qld Arts Society and a volunteer floor walker at Rockhampton Art Gallery during their exhibitions.  Stephen would research the artists and their works thoroughly and prided himself on being informative and knowledgeable.  He also enjoyed his evening art classes with Coral Morris.

Stephen also became an advocate for mental health consumers.  Working closely with the Rockhampton Mental Health Unit he sat on various committees and represented consumers at state and interstate conferences.

Stephen loved cooking almost as much as he loved eating.  He often made scones for any occasion and even won prizes at the Gayndah Show upsetting many ladies who had taken many years to achieve the same result.

Stephen loved nothing more than to have a coffee or share a meal with friends.  This was always complemented with a decadent slice of cheesecake, or whatever else looked delicious.  But most importantly it was the company he enjoyed and the conversation that flowed.

We simply can’t talk about Stephen without mentioning his long-term love affair with Kylie …. Kylie Minogue, that is.  Stephen has followed her career from the very beginning and even saw her perform live in Brisbane. He just idolized Kylie and was moved to tears when Helen gave him an autographed photo of her for his 30th birthday.

In terms of real-life love affairs, Stephen broke many hearts – mainly girls who wanted to be more than just friends.  Out of the few boyfriends Stephen had over the years, we remember Mark Ansell especially at this time.  He and Stephen were together for some time and lived together in Brisbane.   They remained firm friends even after they parted ways.

Stephen so loved and treasured his nieces and nephews – Helen’s sons Damien and Lachlan and my daughters Kristy-Lee, Sarah, Cherie and Emilyanne.  He was the Godfather of Kristy-Lee and Sarah.  Stephen loved to play with the kids and they loved his impersonations, especially of Mr Go Go and a chook laying an egg.  He’d have them in fits of giggles begging for more.  In later years, Stephen dressed up as a clown and did beautiful face painting at their birthday parties.  Stephen loved entertaining children in general, in fact one of his first jobs was dressing up as a chook and entertaining the children of shoppers at a local grocery shop, Franklins Big Fresh.  He also spent numerous mornings face painting children in the Rockhampton Mall with Mum by his side to look after the money side of things.

Stephen faced more of life’s challenges than most of us, but dealt with them all with a sense of purpose, courage and determination, helped along by the unconditional love and support of his family and close friends.  Stephen was a friend to many throughout his life and he will be sorely missed.

We are pleased that he is now at peace.   (written by Neville and Rosemary Kajewski, Bethlea Bell and Helen Fitzgerald)