Hoffman and Diego Tamanaki Brown at a memorial service for Carmen held in Auckland soon after her death. In Sydney a group of friends of the late Carmen Rupe are remembering the flamboyant NZ-born transsexual entertainer with a small tribute gathering this afternoon. Jurgen Hoffman says he and his partner Robin Waerea were amongst the close friends who kept Carmen company in her final, ailing days. They remember Carmen as a "one of a kind person, special and kind-hearted, someone who never said a crook word against anybody." Hoffman says if Carmen could be here chatting with the couple and her friends today they might be talking about her dreams and hopes for the future. "We'd probably talk about Tahiti because she always wanted to go there," he says. "In the last few years she even dreamed of having a little coffee shop in Oxford Street." GayNZ.com Daily News contacted a spokesperson for the Sydney-based Carmen Rupe Memorial Trust to enquire how they are marking today's anniversary but have been advised no comment is available today. The Trust has been actively fundraising in recent months and GayNZ.com's Sydney correspondent says sausage sizzles and t-shirts bearing an image of Carmen are frequent sights around the Sydney glbti scene. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff.
First published: Saturday, 15th December 2012 - 1:57pm