“HIS GIFT was the power of love.”
That’s part of a moving tribute from the father of Olly Stephens.
Stuart Stephens spoke at his son’s funeral, held this morning at Reading Crematorium.
Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to the teenager who died in an incident that took place in Bugs Bottom in Emmer Green on January 3.
A funeral cortege went through the village, going past his former schools and St Barnabas Church.
Mourners, wearing red at the request of his family, threw red roses onto the hearse.
As the procession made its way into the All Hallows Road crematorium, they were joined by riders from Bike Stormz group, a youth pro-cycling and anti-knife crime group.
Members of the Thames Valley Police Mounted Section will also joined the family.
During the service, Mr Stephens said that the time that they spent with Olly as their most precious gift.
“Oliver touched so many lives without either us or himself knowing it, we now know,” he said.
“Olly would be embarrassed by all this fuss and question it in his own way.”
Referring to his autism, Mr Stephens said: “We used to talk about his autistic ‘superpower’ as we called it. Would he be a techno whiz, a musician, artist, or mathematical prodigy?
“Turns out his gift was the power of love. All of you here are testimony to this, we have all come for Olly.”
He continued: “I remember watching him sleep recently, filling the length of his bed with his frame, floppy hair, and olive skin, beautiful. I felt so much love for him in that moment it made my heart miss a beat. A mental picture forever mine.
“Olly will always be our baby boy, never becoming a man, never to rear a family, find true love, build a future, to move away from home (which we had forbidden, couldn’t bear the thought of either children moving away) and to travel the world.
“Grandchildren we will never meet… Olly wanted children, lots of them he always said. A whisper of a promise unfulfilled.
“We are at a loss but so thankful for the time we had with him.”
Mr Stephens also thanked friends, neighours, the community, street pastors and the rugby and angling communities for their support, along with police and other emergency services. They “have been exemplary, so professional, so caring”.
He concluded: “Be a wolf and not a sheep, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, fly so very high.
“We love you Olly”.
