SA Police Legacy helped Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons after the death of partner Kendall Virgo

Driving home from work, Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons received a phone call that turned her life upside down. Then a white knight came along.

Paul Ashenden

@paulashenden

2 min read

June 15, 2025 - 4:30PM

Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons received a phone call that turned her life upside down. Then a white knight came along. Picture: Brenton Edwards

It was supposed to be a normal day. Kendall Virgo tucked his daughter Ellie safely into the car and gave her a hug and a kiss.

Then Ellie’s mother, Kendall’s partner Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons, drove out the driveway from the rural property in Parawa, on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

It was the last time either of them would see Mr Virgo alive.

Sergeant Symons dropped Ellie off to school at Yankalilla, then drove on to her job as a police prosecutor in Mount Barker. On her way home, she got a phone call she will never forget.

Kendall Virgo (R) and daughter Ellie. Picture: Supplied

Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons (L) with her partner Kendall Virgo (R). Picture: Supplied

Mr Virgo, a farm worker, had died of a heart attack in a paddock behind their home. He was 49.

“It was a massive shock – it was very traumatic,” Sergeant Symons said.

“I think the hardest part was telling my little girl that her dad, who she really loved, wasn’t coming back. She was never going to see him again and the hug that she had from him was the last one.”

Mr Virgo’s death on November 22, 2022, also sent shockwaves into Sergeant Symons’s financial arrangements. Like most couples, they had set up their lives around two incomes, and their home had been part of Mr Virgo’s work package.

And so as her head was still spinning with the emotional trauma of losing her life partner, she wondered how she was going to put food on the table, find a new place to live or even buy Ellie a Christmas present. It was, she said, an “absolute nightmare”.

Kendall Virgo and his daughter Ellie. Picture: Supplied

Then, only a few days after her world turned upside down, she received another phone call that changed her life. It was a call from the SA Police Legacy asking how they could help.

Sergeant Symons, now 47, had not even heard of the support organisation until that call – a colleague had contacted them without her knowledge.

An SA Police Legacy bereavement grant helped Sergeant Symons get back on track, pay for food, utilities, car and funeral bills and even buy Ellie a Christmas present.

The organisation has since helped cover school fees, hobbies, Christmas and birthday gifts. SA Police Legacy functions have also helped Sergeant Symons start rebuilding connections and “moving forward as a person” and given Ellie, now 8, the chance to meet other children dealing with similar emotions.

“When you’re in that traumatic, stressful, shocking circumstance, it really is life-changing to have someone say, ‘Look, I can help’,” Sergeant Symons said.

Brevet Sergeant Rebecca Symons, pictured with daughter Ellie, says the support has been life-changing. Picture: Supplied

“It’s totally life-changing, really. They support you in a time when you might not have anyone else to help you, or you don’t think that anyone else can help you.”

SA Police Legacy was formed in 1989 and currently supports more than 350 police legatees. It is a registered charity that provides emotional, financial and social help to bereaved SA police families, as well as officers and their families facing serious health issues.

To celebrate national police legacy day on Tuesday, venues including Parliament House, the River Torrens footbridge, SA Police headquarters, Victoria Square fountain and Elder Park rotunda will be illuminated in blue.

A lunch at Adelaide Oval will hear retired SA Police General Counsel Peter Shanahan speak about the death of his wife, Chief Superintendent Joanne Shanahan, in an horrific car crash five years ago. Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation chief executive John Mannion and SA Police Legacy president Chief Inspector Kellie Watkins will also speak.