Much has happened in the year since the Pike River mine first exploded but the births of two babies who will never know their dads must surely be among the most poignant.
The babies' fathers - Sam Mackie, 26, and Joshua Ufer, 25 - were among 29 men who died in a series of explosions in the West Coast mine, the first last November 19.
Saturday marks a year since the first blast and the bodies of those 29 men still lie where they fell, the mine still not safe enough to enter.
The families and friends of those who died will be among the more than 2500 people expected at a community memorial service in Greymouth on Saturday to mark the anniversary.
The service will start at 2.45pm and end with silence at 3.44pm - the time of the first explosion.
Prime Minister John Key and Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae will attend the service, which will involve about 200 members of the victims' families.
The daughter of miner Milton Osborne, 54, will sing, and a feature of the service will be a display put together by all the families.
Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall - who the Labour Department last week charged with health and safety failings over the disaster - will mark the day privately in Wellington.
Whittall worked and employed many of the men who died but said he feared his attendance would detract from a day which "should properly be focussed on those who lost family members''.
Superintendent Gary Knowles, who headed the police response to the disaster as head of the West Coast-Tasman police district, will also be absent.
His handling of the rescue effort was both praised and condemned, at one point becoming the story when The Australian journalist Ean Higgins branded him a "country cop'' and asked why he was in charge of the rescue effort.
Senior cabinet ministers and Whittall joined forces to defend him, with Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee blasting Higgins as "boorish'' and Police Minister Judith Collins saying the question was "disgraceful''.
Police Commissioner Peter Marshall and Assistant Commissioner South Dave Cliff will represent the police on Saturday as Mr Knowles is on leave, taking his first break since the disaster.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who lost a number of friends in the mine, said the family and friends of the victims, and the community as a whole, were dealing with the tragedy as best they could.
Some were coping but others would always struggle, he told APNZ.
"One year on, it's probably a little bit tougher in some ways,'' he said.
"One year ago, when it happened, there was enormous solidarity and you had everyone in the same boat and we were all rowing in the same direction.
"But one year on we've got the problem of 29 (men) still being under the Paparoa Ranges, in the coal mine, we have got a commission of inquiry going, and the commission of inquiry are finding out a lot of practices that weren't, from a health and safety point of view, up to scratch.
"Then you've got charges now that have been laid by the Labour Department.''
The community had tried to support the families by giving them space to grieve while at the same time offering support.
The disaster thrust the tight-knit community into the international spotlight via the media and that had been a mixed blessing; they could not grieve in private but the public airing of their stories prompted New Zealanders to open their wallets and contribute to trust funds.
Those trusts will benefit all the children left without fathers - including those two little babies who will know their dads only through photos and stories.
"They are just one story of a lot of bad luck stories,'' Mr Kokshoorn said.
"You have many, many people whose loved ones went to work on November 19 last year and never returned.''
The men of Pike River mine:
Conrad John Adams, 43, Greymouth, New Zealand
Malcolm Campbell, 25, Greymouth, Scotland
Glen Peter Cruse, 35, Cobden, New Zealand
Allan John Dixon, 59, Rununga, New Zealand
Zen Wodin Drew, 21, Greymouth, New Zealand
Christopher Peter Duggan, 31, Greymouth, New Zealand
Joseph Ray Dunbar, 17, Greymouth
John Leonard Hale, 45, Ruatapu, New Zealand
Daniel Thomas Herk, 36, Rununga, New Zealand
David Mark Hoggart, 33, Foxton, New Zealand
Richard Bennett Holling, 41, Blackball, New Zealand
Andrew David Hurren, 32, Greymouth, New Zealand
Jacobus (Koos) Albertus Jonker, 47, Cobden, South Africa
William John Joynson, 49, Dunollie, Australia
Riki Steve Keane, 28, Greymouth, New Zealand
Terry David Kitchin, 41, Rununga, New Zealand
Samuel Peter Mackie, 26, Greymouth, New Zealand
Francis Skiddy Marden, 41, Rununga, New Zealand
Michael Nolan Hanmer Monk, 23, Greymouth New Zealand
Stuart Gilbert Mudge, 31, Rununga, New Zealand
Kane Barry Nieper, 33, Greymouth, New Zealand
Peter O'Neill, 55, Rununga, New Zealand
Milton John Osborne, 54, Ngahere, New Zealand
Brendan John Palmer, 27, Cobden, New Zealand
Benjamin David Rockhouse, 21, Greymouth, New Zealand
Peter James Rodger, 40, Greymouth, Britain
Blair David Sims, 28, Greymouth, New Zealand
Joshua Adam Ufer, 25, Australia
Keith Thomas Valli, 62, Winton, New Zealand
