By Fidelis Rego and Sam Burgess
Updated
Two Toowoomba doctors killed in the MH17 Malaysia Airlines disaster have been remembered as dedicated doctors and "beautiful" people at a memorial service in their home town.
Doctor Roger Guard was the head of the Toowoomba Base Hospital pathology unit and had worked for Queensland Health for 44 years.
His wife, Jill, was a general practitioner in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
The couple were returning from a European holiday and a medical conference when the Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down over Ukraine on July 18.
About 1,000 people paid their respects to the Guards at Toowoomba's Empire Theatre on Sunday afternoon.
Toowoomba Regional Council streamed coverage of the memorial through its website.
The couple's son, Paul Guard, lamented the loss of loving parents.
"We're glad that you were together on your final adventure doing something you love," he said.
"You set a wonderful example for you children to follow."
He said he hoped the loss of so many innocent lives could be the catalyst to a lasting peace in Ukraine.
The Guards' daughter, Amanda Koopman, expressed her family's feeling of loss.
"Mum and Dad - if you were able to hear me I would say to you, you've given us everything you possibly could," she said.
"We love you both so much - goodbye."
Toowoomba Hospital Foundation CEO Peter Rookas said the Guards' deaths had devastated many of the city's residents, especially those within the medical fraternity.
To think that Toowoomba in Australia could be touched by an event that had ramifications around the world was almost surreal.
Peter Rookas, Toowoomba Hospital Foundation
Mr Rookas told those attending the service in Toowoomba he wanted the occasion to be a celebration of the couple's lives.
"People who gave so much to Toowoomba, so much to the medical fraternity," he said.
"It’s very hard to comprehend the tragedy, the travesty, the shock.
"To think that Toowoomba in Australia could be touched by an event that had ramifications around the world was almost surreal.
"This was just a terrible, terrible, unfortunate occasion. Any aircraft in the air at that time could have been hit by that ground-to-air missile.
"It just happened to be a passenger aircraft and it also just happened to be two lovely people from our city of Toowoomba."
Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio, who also spoke at the gathering, delivered a message of solidarity to the Guards' family members.
"We say to friends and family we stand with you and we support you," he said.
"So many of us travel for with business and leisure, and the reality of an even like this strikes us to the very core of our beings."
Mr Rookas said Roger Guard was a passionate person who was very dedicated to his work in the Toowoomba pathology unit.
"He’s a rather funny character, Roger, he's a bit quirky like a lot of doctors are and they have their mannerisms and ways," he said.
"Roger loved running and he was the president of the Toowoomba Road Runners for many years.
"I've had a long association with Roger and the road runners long before I came to the hospital."
Members of the Road Runners and Jill Guard's Toowoomba Philharmonic Society featured in the service.
The Guard family asked that people not bring flowers but rather make donations to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The service ended with the Irish blessing: "May the road rise to meet you, the rains fall soft on your field until we meet again."
Topics: air-and-space, death, foreign-affairs, doctors-and-medical-professionals, toowoomba-4350
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