Coroner's Crusade: HOW THE DEAD PROTECT THE LIVING

WALLACE’S DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE

- Leena Tailor

Visiting your newborn twin grandchildren after their lengthy hospital stay would mark an emotional moment for anyone. But there was extra significance for retired coroner Wallace Bain when he arrived at his son Lyndon’s home in 2019.

“I walked in and there on the floor were my little twin grandsons, beautifully tucked up in Pepi-Pods,” the 71-year says. “It was overwhelming.”

What Lyndon didn’t know was the significant role Wallace played in making the bassinet style pods more accessible – and subsequently reducing infant deaths. Disturbed that around 55 babies were dying annually as a result of cosleeping with parents, Wallace advocated to get Pepi-Pods and wahakura (flax-woven versions) funded.

“They’ve brought the death rate down to 30 and it’s expected to fall to five,” he tells. “That means 50 children who are walking around who wouldn’t be otherwise.”

For Wallace, it’s a “contribution to society” that has been his greatest gift serving as a coroner, and seeing his own family reap the benefits was a powerful moment.

Wallace’s strong sense of justice and helping others was instilled at an early age, largely thanks to his trailblazing mother Mollie. “She was one of the first 10 women detectives in New Zealand,” he says. “Discipline and rules were part of our upbringing.”

Following in the footsteps of his pharmacist father Athol, Wallace headed to Wellington to study pharmacy, where he met wife Juliet.