gifted a new $10,000 scooter<\/a>. Paniona told the Northern Advocate at the time that it was a blessing and would allow him to keep singing.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll never give it up,\u201d Paniona said.<\/p>\n
Musician Maggie Cocco paid tribute to Paniona on Facebook, saying the memory of how she first met him was one of her favourite stories of her life so far in Whang\u0101rei. <\/p>\n
![\"Whang\u0101rei]()
Whang\u0101rei busker Mr T is being remembered as a “beautiful soul” who was always smiling. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
He\u2019d left a message for the \u201cgirl with the beautiful voice\u201d to call a certain number, which turned out to be a local karaoke competition. <\/p>\n
She entered the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I walked into the competition that night, there you were, waiting with that big, toothy grin of yours,\u201d Cocco said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just like that, you welcomed me into the first of many great bear hugs.\u201d <\/p>\n
Paniona was \u201cone of a kind\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cA character who became synonymous with Whang\u0101rei. Someone who knew all, loved all, and always had time for those around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a rushed last meeting, she was grateful for one last bear hug.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay it, and your beautiful legacy, sustain us until we\u2019re singing together again at that great gig in the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly 300 comments filled the Haven Falls Funeral Home Facebook notice, testament to the impact Paniona had on the community.<\/p>\n
People described him as the \u201ckindest man\u201d with the \u201cbiggest heart\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Northern Advocate approached the Paniona family, who preferred not to comment but were happy for others\u2019 tributes to be shared.<\/p>\n
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paniona ran the karaoke at the tavern during Woods\u2019 younger years and whenever she saw him outside Countdown,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[806,28822,6743,682,107241,1853,145223,156,38984,292812,16564,30863,157,111,139,1067,69,292811,15120,4918,8690,292810,1869,57767,17454],"class_list":["post-593932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-as","tag-beautiful","tag-became","tag-being","tag-busker","tag-central","tag-cheerful","tag-entertainment","tag-fixtures","tag-grin","tag-mr","tag-muchloved","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-paniona","tag-remembered","tag-soul","tag-te","tag-wairongoa","tag-whangrei","tag-whangreis","tag-whose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}