Jason Hart – RIP

“We would especially like to thank all members of staff at Braidwood M.P.S. for the care, love and compassion you gave to Jason.

We deeply appreciate your thoughtfulness and thank you all sincerely, please accept this as our personal thanks as many addresses are unknown.

Rest in peace, Jason, much loved son, brother and uncle.

Eulogy: Jason Edward Hart was born in Goulburn on the 29th September 1971, the youngest child of Ted and Wendy and little brother to Scott and Michelle.  He was also my first cousin born only 5 months after I was, but more importantly we were mates.  Growing up I spent a lot of time with Jase, and some of my first reliable memories are from when my parents and Uncle Ted and Aunty Wendy used to play night tennis comps, and Jason, my sister Rachel and I, used to fill in time together running around in the dark with the other tennis players kids, and generally getting up to mischief.  Jase was into music for as long as I can remember and in those early days he was madly into ABBA, so we would sit in one of the cars listening to cassettes and singing along together.  As his tastes evolved he brought Rach and I along for the ride through his Fleetwood Mac and Duran Duran phases, and he even tried pretty hard to get us in to Gary Numan but that one was a bridge too far I’m afraid.

Jason enjoyed a happy childhood growing up in Braidwood.  He attended St Bede’s School for his primary education and Braidwood Central for his secondary.  After he finished school he completed horticulturist studies and a wool classing course. 

Jason was adored by his family and (according to Shell and Sconner) had Ted and Wendy twisted around his little finger from an early age.  Jason apparently never got “out” in their neighbourhood games of cricket – Uncle Ted would always say “Aww just let him have one more go…”.

Jason was also lucky enough to have two dinners most nights.  He and his best bud Tung (Aaron Bunn) would muck around after school and then Aaron’s mum Narelle would ask him if he wanted to stay for dinner.  Jase would ask “was it china fashion?” because Narelle reportedly made a pretty good Chinese meal, and if it was he would stay and have that first, and then go home and have whatever was going there as well.  He must have had a good metabolism.

As well as his music, Jason also loved animals.  He had a particular love for horses and was blessed to have cousins like Paul and Terry Hart who always encouraged him and assisted him in this passion.  As well as his horses he always had a menagerie in the backyard including puppies and cats and birds – in fact he kept me supplied with budgies because I kept managing to lose them – but at various times he also had guinea pigs and rabbits, and that’s just the ones I can remember.  I also remember one particular dog he had that had dug such a huge hole under its kennel that it was like a cave that the dog spent most of its time in with the kennel precariously hanging over the top.  I never was sure what happened when it rained, but perhaps it just liked having a pool?  Jason was proud of that massive hole in the yard.

During our teenage years Jase and I spent lots of time together.  We both loved fishing, and we spent many an hour clambering along the banks of the Bombay Creek, catching trout that the fishing club generously released into the creek for us each year.  We had developed a routine where we drove out to the fire trail and then fished from there right down to Sid Crown’s place and back, a good few hours walking, including climbing down and then back up the waterfall – and that was our favourite bit.  Then one time we thought we’d get adventurous and try something different, and so we decided go upstream instead…

We followed the creek for quite a while, leapfrogging each other from pool to pool as the creek got thinner and thinner, but we kept catching fish so we kept going.  At one stage when the creek was just a trickle a foot wide between pools, I was quietly fishing away and Jason was upstream from me

a bit when suddenly I heard a blood-curdling scream “DAMIEN!!!”.  I dropped my gear and ran as fast as I could up to where he was, thinking he must have been bitten by a snake or something, and wondering how the hell I was going to get him back to the car.  I found him fairly hysterical and I said “Cuz, what’s wrong, what’s wrong??!!”.  He caught his breath and calmed down a bit and then explained to me that he had been standing there quietly fishing away, focussed on watching his spinner wiggling through the water, when he heard a rustling noise on the bank above him, and when he looked up he was shocked to find himself face to face with a wild pig!  Fortunately, his screaming like a banshee had scared the daylights out of the pig too, and it had run off, so while he loved most animals, Jase, it seemed, wasn’t a great fan of wild pigs…

Jason also went through a period of what could only be described as your classic 80’s teenage angst, and Rach and I were often there with him.  One time he had run away – I think he did this reasonably often – and Uncle Ted had asked us to help look for him.  We must have searched for a while before we found him laying on top of the old 3D map display thing that used to be in the park, so we climbed up there too and the three of us lay on top of it, staring at the stars and talking about all sorts of stuff for hours til we convinced him to go back home.  I recall climbing on top of that thing many more times to lay down and talk and stare off into the universe, and I think it became one of our favourite places to just hang out.  Rach and I also took him down the Bay to visit his girlfriend Mary numerous times, and the four of us spent a lot of time together driving around listening to 80s music and mucking about at Mary’s parents place.  I don’t even remember if I had a tape deck in my car so we probably just had Jason’s boom box in the back, but we made our own entertainment in those days before the Internet and mobile phones, and they were good times indeed...

Jason worked at a number of places after he left school, including The Oaks down past Batemans Bay, and Tugalong Station at Canyonleigh out the other side of Goulburn.  They were both countrystyle retreats where he got to work with his beloved horses and assist with all manner of other farm work, and he enjoyed it a lot.  He was working in a similar role in the Picton area when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 21, but this period wasn’t all bad as this is also where he met his long-time mate Mick who has been a wonderful friend to Jason through the years since.

Jason moved back to Braidwood and lived on his own with help from his family for some time, but about nine years ago his condition had deteriorated to the point where the decision was made that he needed expert care.  The family will always be grateful to Debbie Oxford Wilson for making it possible for Jason to make his home at the Braidwood MPS.  Not only was it located conveniently close to Ted and Wendy’s, but it meant that Jase could still be a member of our community while being looked after in a wonderful facility staffed by very caring people.

He did everything he could to not let his MS slow him down.  While Jason was a patient he attended a Gary Numan concert in Sydney, a Stevie Nicks concert in Canberra, and around six weeks ago his final one – The Black Sorrows in Goulburn with his mum, Robert and Robyn.  He didn’t sleep at all that night he was so full of adrenaline, but he had the best time!

Against all adversity, Jason had a life - a life he enjoyed to the fullest extent that he could, and never once did I hear him complain about the cards that he’d been dealt.  I’m sure I am not alone in the tremendous admiration I felt for him in how he handled the many challenges his MS put up in front of him.  It is some consolation in this time too, that after agreeing to be the face of MS Australia’s fundraising campaign last year, the appeal raised $400,000 toward a cure for this terrible disease.  While a cure will come too late for Jase, we pray that it may help someone else in the future.

To his Mum and Dad, who were always there for Jason through all of his trials and tribulations, he could not have asked for more caring and loving parents.  And to Scott and Michelle and their families, I’m sure your love for him and support helped keep him going as long as he did.

To all of the amazing staff and carers at Braidwood MPS, thank you so much for your enduring dedication and kindness.  We know it wasn’t always easy, and Jase would be the first to admit that he was a rather demanding sod, but you all contributed to making the weight of his illness a little bit easier to bear.

And to all of you that were his friends, who read to him, wrote emails for him, and took him out for coffee, to the great many people who stopped to say g’day on his frequent trips down the street, and to those who just stopped by to keep him company – thank you so much - I know that he was eternally grateful for the friendship of each and every one of you.   I’d like to give a special mention for how much he loved it when Meredith and Jo, and Harry and Nicola would read to him, and add that he also particularly loved Harry’s impression of Julia Gillard, which he reckoned was “bang on”!

And an extra special thank you must go to Rob Richardson.  For your compassion and your professionalism, for going above and beyond the call of duty, and for being such a good mate to Jase.  Thank you, Rob, you held a special place in his heart.

Ted and Wendy and Scott and Michelle and their families would also like me to say that they have been utterly overwhelmed by the love and support of this wonderful community, not just now in this sad time, but throughout the course of Jason’s illness, so again, thank you to everyone from the bottoms of their hearts.

I came across a quote by Winnie the Pooh (of all people) that fitted with how I wanted to finish this little commemoration of Jason’s life, and it goes like this: “How lucky am I to have something, that makes saying goodbye so hard”.  Some pretty wise words for a bear…  Goodbye Cuz, you are free now... 

I‘ll just finish off by pointing out that most of the songs in the play list that you’ll hear here in the church and up at the cemetery, are songs especially chosen by Jase for his funeral service – I’m sure you’ll figure out which ones they are.  On that note, now we will listen to his favourite song, and it’s one that he heard live in concert only a few weeks ago – “Chained to the Wheel”.