New Zealand-based resilience researcher, grief expert, Dr. Lucy Hone’s husband, Trevor Hone, is a builder by trade who has spent more than 25 years in construction, mostly in New Zealand, after they moved there from the UK.
He grew up with a background in economics with a BSc from Loughborough University. He then worked in London as an FX broker dealing with currencies like the Italian Lira.
While in the city, he started redeveloping and flipping old houses, which got him interested in building proper homes.
When they settled in Christchurch, he founded Trevor Hone Builders Ltd in 2003. The company focused on architectural houses and grew to have about a dozen employees.
In fact, they even picked up awards, including the NZ Master Builders National Craftsmanship Award in 2021.
Trevor later closed the construction side of the business at the end of 2022 to shift his focus toward wellbeing, sustainability, and cost issues in the industry.
More recently, he has taken on the role of CEO at Actually App.
Lucy and Trevor Had Three Kids, One of Whom Died at Just 12 Years Old!
They first met in Portobello near Edinburgh while Lucy was doing her studies there. They started dating and tied the knot in the early 1990s.
They have three children: two sons, Ed and Paddy, born first, and then their daughter Abi. The plan in 2001 was to head to New Zealand for six months so Lucy could have their third child in a peaceful spot away from city life, but they fell in love with the place and made it permanent.
They built their family home in Sumner and raised the kids there. However, everything shifted in 2014 when Abi, at 12, died in a car crash over Queen’s Birthday weekend along with her best friend and the friend’s mother.
Lucy and Trevor were at Lake Ōhau when police called the lodge with the news.
The pain was immense, but they’ve spoken openly about how they handled it. In her TED Talk “3 Secrets of Resilient People,” Lucy explained her choice not to meet the driver responsible, while Trevor felt differently and did go ahead to meet him.
On the Roll With The Punches podcast in 2022, Trevor shared his thoughts on forgiveness after the accident, talking about letting go of blame to move forward.
Lucy has mentioned in interviews how Trevor changed after the loss; he let go of sweating small things and looked at life with a clearer view.
She’s also noted how his building team kept the company running smoothly while he took time away, and how they both returned to work after roughly six weeks.
In 2022, they completed the Kathmandu Coast to Coast race as first-timers in the tandem two-day event, a grueling 243km multisport course they trained for over months with coaching help. They did it in honor of lost loved ones, including Abi.
Together, Lucy and Trevor have stood against all thick and thin without pulling away.
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