Heart of the Nation: Manly 2095

PHOTOGRAPHER David Maurice Smith was shooting at Sydney's Manly beach when a stranger emerged from the surf and asked him to take her picture.

swimmer

PHOTOGRAPHER David Maurice Smith was shooting in the early morning light at Sydney's Manly beach when a stranger emerged from the surf and asked him to take her picture.

This was a little surprising, he says; usually it's the other way around. But it turned out that Di Davis-Rice wanted to have a significant moment in her life recorded: she'd just been swimming in the spot where she'd scattered her husband's ashes the previous evening.

Di had been married to Gerry for 25 years. They'd met at a party on Sydney's north shore when she was a 38-year-old widow with two young kids - her first husband had died of cancer - and Gerry was a divorced life insurance agent with four of his own. The mad keen surfer, 10 years her senior, was "laid back, a deep thinker and a real gentleman", she says; they fell in love and blended their two families.

They shared a passion for skiing, for travelling, for the ocean. "We had an amazing marriage," she says. "We did everything together. We had such fun." And then, one day in February this year, Gerry was taken from her, dropping dead from a heart attack that came without warning.

In a whirlwind of grief and shock she organised a traditional surfer's send-off at Manly's Fairy Bower, where as a youth he had learnt to ride his longboard. The family paddled out on boards at sunset on Valentine's Day, formed a circle, then began slapping the water and calling out his name - "Gerry! We love you Gerry!" - as Di scattered the ashes. "It wasn't even sad," she says, with something like wonder in her voice. "It was just such a special, powerful moment."

Three months on, she admits she's "not coping very well"; the first time she was widowed it was easier, in a way, because with two little ones she just had to keep going. At least now she has six grown-up kids and 15 grandchildren to fall back on. And she was touched by the chance encounter with the photographer, whose portrait captures her in the element where she finds some solace from her grief. She has swum every morning since Gerry died. "The ocean is helping me immensely at the moment," she says. "It soothes me. It heals me."