Peggy Tunstall, the wife of former Commonwealth Games chief Arthur Tunstall, was described by her grieving husband as "a beautiful woman who helped everybody".
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Mrs Tunstall was farewelled at St John's Anglican Church in Darlinghurst on Wednesday in a service attended by about 90 people, including Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, Australian Commonwealth Games Association president Sam Coffa and several former Olympians and sporting administrators.
Mrs Tunstall, 88, died last Monday at Nowra Private Hospital almost a year after she suffered a stroke that left her paralysed from the waist down. She will be remembered as a key figure in sports administration, a life member of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association, a recipient of the Medal of the Order or Australia and an unshakable supporter of her husband.
"I cracked up, I really did," Mr Tunstall said. "I cracked up when the coffin was disappearing. It was very very sad, after 67 years of marriage."
Mr Tunstall told the delegation he'd been lucky to have Peggy.
"I said to her one day, 'I won't see you tomorrow because I've got to write a report on a tournament that I've attended'," he recalled. "I'll always remember, she said 'Well, I can take short-hand and I can type and I'll do it for you'. She never stopped from that day till the day she died. Everybody used to say 'You're the luckiest bloke in the world'. She was a wonderful woman. She was really something."
Mrs Tunstall supported her husband through challenging times in his colourful career as a sports official, particularly in boxing.
"Peggy's ever friendly and welcoming disposition, accompanied by her great competence and conscientiousness, will be the indelible memory she leaves...," Boxing Australia said in a statement.
The Commonwealth Games Association said: "Peggy was a treasured member of the Australian Commonwealth Games family and long term supporter who will be missed by all who knew her."
