‘I can’t believe he’s gone’

The devastated wife of a ‘devoted family man’ has spoken of her unimaginable sense of loss after the tragic death of her husband.

Gareth Hendrickson died suddenly on Saturday night, just a day after he had been discharged from hospital for treatment to a blood clot on the lung.

His wife, Tricia, described the 39-year-old father of their three young boys, Malcolm, Nicholas and Christopher, as her ‘rock’.

And she told the Bermuda Sun that she kept expecting to see her husband walk through the door.

She said: “It has not even begun to sink in.

“I am making all these arrangements and it does not seem like it’s for Gareth.

“He was everything to me and I just can not believe he is not here any more. The boys are doing okay, we are just trying to keep them busy at the moment.

“They loved their dad so much and they meant the world to him. They were his life.

“He was such a natural father — a real gentle soul.”

The Hendrickson family has been inundated with messages of support since the weekend.

They say they have been overwhelmed by how many lives Mr Hendrickson had touch in Bermuda and abroad.

Mrs Hendrickson said: “It started on July 10 when Gareth started experiencing shortness of breath. 

“We took him to the hospital and found he had blood clots on his lungs, which was very surprising as he was never sick.

“They started treating him with blood thinners and he started to improve.

“He was allowed home on Friday and he was so happy to be back home.

“We had a good Friday and a really good Saturday. He seemed stronger and was gaming with the boys again.

“But that night he had trouble breathing again and I think we lost him before the paramedics got here.

“Everyone is still in shock. It has taken us all by surprise and it’s so difficult to know how to try and move forward.”

Mr Hendrickson, whose mother, Dr Norma Hendrickson, was a well-known educator on the island, was born and brought up in the Bob’s Valley Lane area of Sandys.

One of three brothers, he attended the West End Primary School before going to Berkeley and then Bermuda College.

He studied economics at Howard University in Washington for two years, before returning to Bermuda to embark on a career in IT.

His brother, Nigel, who now lives in the US, told the Sun: “He has always been my baby brother.

“He was my responsibility and it was my job to take care of him.

Love of books

“Growing up he was the youngest and so we used to dress him up as Spock from Star Trek and things like that. He loved books and he would often carry around an Encyclopedia with
him.

“He loved Greek mythology and when we were with my mother while she was studying in the US Gareth would take himself down the library and try not be noticed.”

Mr Hendrickson met his wife, Tricia, on June 16, 1994 at the old nightclub Oscars in Hamilton.

The couple married seven years later at the Emmanuel Methodist Church in Southampton and went on to have three children Malcolm, 10 and eight-year-old twins Nicholas and Christopher.

Mrs Hendrickson told the Sun: “I thought Gareth was American the first time I met him because of his accent but when we got to talking we realized that we had both grown up playing in the same Bob’s Valley Lane area.

“Back then he would always go down to the Swinging Doors on Court Street to play pool with his friends so I told him I would meet him there.

“I didn’t know where it was, but when I walked in the door the whole place just stopped.

“Gareth looked up and saw me and we saw each other pretty much every day from then”

She added: “Gareth loved his family.

“He loved his brothers and he loved his boys.

“He loved gaming too and his sons have taken after their dad in that way. They are all like him in different ways.

“We have been blown away by the messages of support we have received over the last few days. The phone has been ringing off the hook from people I have never even met.

“It seems he had made a good impression on everyone he met.”

A service to commemorate Mr Hendrickson will take place at the Emmanuel Methodist Church next Wednesday.