Tegan Jack McMillan

Jacks Eulogy:

Good morning. My name is Wendy Rose, and I am lucky enough to be one of Jack’s Aunties. On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for travelling today to celebrate Jack and for remembering his amazing life. Not sure if you all realise, but Jack liked to celebrate. He would be pretty impressed with the turn out today. If he were here with us, he would make sure he got around to every single one of you, have a beer (or 2……….. or 3) and somehow make you laugh. How can we put our bloody Jack into words? I am going to try my best. Tegan Jack McMillan born 13th February 1993 at Tamworth Base Hospital. Son to Aaron & Ann, younger brother to twins Tristan and Shannon. Ann remembers that Jack was the biggest baby in the nursery…. Little did we know then that our Jack would have the biggest personality most of us would ever have the privilege of knowing. His cheeky grin was like no other and that laugh is one we all will remember forever. Jack grew up in Yetman with his brothers and parents where he attended Yetman Public School, giving it to most teachers he had. He received an award one day for ‘Being Quiet in Class’. Aaron and Ann wondered what was going on during his class time if they were recognising the fact that he was ‘Being Quiet’. Jack’s younger days involved riding his push bike around town, swimming & fishing in the river, playing in the sand pile at the shire yard, craybobbing in the dams and being the wild child that he was. Broken bones and split foreheads weren’t unusual for Ann to deal with over the years. Many weekends and holidays were spent playing with cousins, Uncles, Aunties and spending time with his Grandparents. Jack loved his family hard, showed us in every way possible and we loved him even more. As a kid, as much as he would rough it, working with his Dad, he would be just as happy to snuggle with his Mum. He was affectionately known as ‘precious’ and we all loved to tell him that he was the favourite. He certainly never denied it and would just flash us his cheeky grin. He learnt very early on the names of different trees and would tell his parents, and then later his fiancée, the names of all the trees in the paddock. It was clearly an interest of his from a young age. From Primary School Jack went on to Farrer where he soon let his enormous personality shine…. Sport was a passion of Jack’s and his love for Cricket and Rugby League started young. He played at the NSW State Rugby League Carnival in Year 6, held in Kingscliff and later played in his respective age groups for Farrer, representing in the Buckley Shield. In Year 6 he also represented North West for Cricket at the State Carnival. He would play of a weekend in the Gundy comp and went on to represent at Darling Downs. Whilst attending school at Farrer he would still play for Darling Downs when he was home of a weekend. After one pretty impressive carnival he was named in the Emergent Players for Qld. He would be flown from Tamworth to Brisbane where he played at the Alan Border field and trained with the Qld Bulls Players. After completing Year 7 and 8 at Farrer, Jack came back to Warialda High in about, Year 9. He was only there for a short time until he decided school wasn’t really for him and he went working with his Dad. During his school years he made incredible mates and left an impression on every single person he met. Jack’s working life away from Aaron began at Texas Butchers and then on to Twidales Bricklaying in Goondiwindi. During his time working with Twidales he would travel to the Gold Coast for work. Not being 18 didn’t stop Jack having fun and enjoying the night life….. Tristan’s ID apparently looked a lot like him and allowed him entry to many places. 2011 he had just turned 18 and had been kicked out of the pub in Warialda. I’m sure this isn’t true but, it is what I’ve been told…… He headed up to the High School as there was a social about to start. He ran into Taryn with a group of friends in the old cemetery and asked if they could ‘hang out’. Smooth Jack! Well, that was just the very start. Taryn began catching the school bus out to Yetman to spend time with Jack. He told her the first time to “Just get off the bus at the pub if I’m not home, Mum and Dad will be there!” Taryn obviously soon realised it’s because they ran the pub, not that they were guaranteed to just be there. Not long after Jack and Taryn started ‘hanging out’ they decided to move into ‘The Shack’ at the back of Aaron and Ann’s in Yetman. Every weekend the 3 amigos, sometimes 4, would be together. Fishing, pigging and competitions as to who had the best pig dog…. All the fun stuff. With both Jack and Taryn not having a licence for years, the third amigo was the driver everywhere they went. Taryn has memories of her and Jack on the quad with a load of dogs……. One day Jack had 7 dogs on the quad with them. Around about the time that Jack and Taryn first got together, Jack began work at Thurlagoona. He helped out on multiple farms around town and was known for always lending a hand wherever he could. Everyone who knows him, speaks of the fact that he was extremely capable. All the blokes that worked with him would say that he was very good at what he did. This obviously extended from his sport, to work and beyond. Whilst on holidays to the Gold Coast in 2019, Jack asked Taryn, the absolute love of his life, to marry him. After acting weird for an entire afternoon and freaking Taryn out for hours, they went for a lovely dinner together. Jack strategically placed a ring on the table, when Taryn went to the bathroom, and hoped for the best on her return. Of course, Taryn said yes, and they celebrated in true Jack style with a couple of beers and placed a few bets. The following year they decided they might build a house in Gundy. Within a month of making the decision to build they had bought the block and things were underway. March 2021, they had moved into their beautiful family house in Goondiwindi. Jack was extremely proud of his house and just as proud of his lawn. Taryn would need to water it regularly just to make sure he could mow it…….. He was proud to have the best lawn in the street. Jack would go to work early in the morning so he could go wood carting in the afternoons. Taryn would go out with him and load the wood while he cut it by hand. They worked hard and set up a great little business. Jack bought a U-beaut chainsaw and was so proud of what they were achieving. He had big plans, big dreams and had made most of them come to fruition. He started small and built up, accepting no help from anyone……… His aim was to one day have his own farm for his family. Watching his parents be the toughest workers around, is it any wonder he also had this drive. Jack liked to pay cash for everything. Taryn laughs now at the times where he tried to do deals buying items, only to be told that cash these days is actually inconvenient. You can all imagine how much he blew up! After being in their new house for a little while and pestering Taryn for months, Taryn agreed that they could start trying for a baby. They fell pregnant straight away. Annie had always wanted a baby girl and her and Aaron were blessed to be expecting their 2nd Granddaughter. On the 21st of June 2022 Ella Rose McMillan was born. Jack was the proudest Dad and Taryn could not have asked for a better birth partner. Except…… for the ONE job that he was given, other than being there as her support. Taryn asked Jack to message her Mum when things were underway. Jack messaged her immediately and when there was no reply, he checked his phone to see why. Sure enough, he’d messaged ‘Karen the Goat lady', not Mum…… The first couple of weeks as new parents was pretty tough. Jack would get home from work and take Ella, saying she could watch the footy with him. He spent endless hours rocking his darling daughter, walking the hallway. Our Jack was just the best Dad and he loved that his special routine involved bath time every night with Ella. He was a hands-on Dad and would get down on the floor to play everyday. As Ella got older, she would run to the door yelling out to her Dad when he arrived home. He would love to cook dinner for his family and show his love in the smallest way. Always letting Taryn get her dinner first. He worked extremely hard for his family straight off the bat and would often only have half a day off during the week. He was very proud to do everything he did for his family, wanting to set them up the very best he could. Sundays was their day for family time. Whether it be trips to the park or out to lunch, he would make the most of it. Only the week before last, Jack & Taryn took Ella to the Zoo. Jack wanted to do something special with his family for Ella’s 1 st Birthday. They had the best day and Jack spent a small fortune on a penguin teddy. A penguin Teddy called Maggie that both Taryn and Ella will hold very dear to their hearts now. Cricket was a big part of Jack’s life and whilst he played representative cricket at school, in his adult years he proudly played of a weekend for the Yetman Yabbies where he formed many friendships around the region. Just last year he Captained the Yetman side where they won the comp. People will be talking around the bush for years to come about Jack’s incredible innings of 305 not out. Pretty impressive for a bush cricketer from Yetman. Some struggle to make 305 runs in a career. His sporting ability was incredible, and he was naturally gifted with the talent of both cricket and football. For a small town of Yetman to have such a great talent come from it is very rare. Many have said over the years that he could have done ANYTHING with is sporting ability but what made him happy was being around family, in the bush with the people he loved. People wish that they could excel in at least one sport, our Jack was lucky enough to be just as good at two. Jack was a great worker, an amazing sportsman, an unbelievable mate and an even better family man with a heart of gold. He would do anything for anyone and was an absolute credit to his parents, Aaron and Ann. You both moulded Jack into the man that he became, and the world was a better place for having him. Our Jack was larger than life itself. He hit it off with anyone and everyone he met and had the unique ability to make anyone in his presence smile. More often than not, belly laugh uncontrollably. If Jimmy, the wide mouth frog was told to you, you know exactly what I’m talking about! He touched hearts far and wide. If he was in your corner, you knew he had your back. As heart broken as we are, anyone that knows Jack, knows that he would not like us to be sad and moping around. I can hear him saying over my shoulder right now “She’ll be right, don’t be sad” We are here to celebrate Jack’s life. Every single one of you would have stories of him, with him and about him. We ask that you continue to share these stories in his memory. It wasn’t Jack’s job to make you feel good about yourself but for some reason, he did that without even trying. He had an aura about him that we all felt when he was near. Remember that feeling and continue to reminisce. Tegan Jack, you will be dearly missed but certainly never, ever forgotten. We all love you so much. I am going to leave you now with a song that Jack loved. He made Taryn listen to it over and over again and now it’s our turn. As friends and family, you guys now get to remember some of Jack’s hilariousness. Song: No Work Tomorrow - Hugsie