Such was the case when 300 people honoured the memory of Wodonga businessman David Mann yesterday.

The hymn Be Still My Soul, sung to the strains of Sibelius’ Finlandia tune, urges worshippers to “bear patiently the cross of grief and pain’’.

Mr Mann and his wife Elaine had each agreed to include the hymn in their funeral services.

They and their sons, Robert and Bruce, had grieved five years ago when daughter, Liz, died at 43 after years of helping poverty-stricken children in Africa.

Since then, Mr Mann had borne much pain from an illness that claimed his life on Monday at the age of 84.

Many in the packed congregation at St Stephen’s Uniting Church might have expected to hear more of Mr Mann’s commercial success, his community work and about the 55 years Mr and Mrs Mann were married.

But first they heard another side from the Reverend Lance Armstrong, who said that Mr Mann had been a stalwart of the Methodist and then Uniting churches and this was reflected in his character and trusting nature.

“David was a deeply committed Christian,” Mr Armstrong said, adding that this was affirmed when he met him in hospital recently.

“He was also a man who loved life and fully embraced it,” he said.

Robert Mann spoke of his father’s sense of adventure sparked by his membership of the Scouts, his joy of travelling overseas and his keenness to try new things.

In commerce, he was a trusting man who assumed that most people were honest.

Dr Bruce Mann recalled his father’s vast amount of voluntary work, from chairing the Wodonga hospital board to organising a working bee to complete the hospital’s garden.

Grandchildren Jonathan and Sarah Mann read lessons in the service.

Mr Mann’s remains were cremated privately earlier yesterday.