Phillip Sugg’s family pay tribute after his body was found in Goomboorian flood waters
The devastated fiance of a beloved Nolans Meats worker has paid tribute to her “amazing” partner and father of three who lost his life in Gympie’s worst floods in living memory.
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The fiance of a beloved 37-year-old Nolan Meats worker and father of three, Phillip Sugg, has paid tribute to her “amazing partner” after his body was found in flood waters at Goomboorian last week.
Mr Sugg disappeared while driving through flood waters on Tin Can Bay Rd on Friday night (February 25).
He was travelling home from work when his car was swept away.
Police divers found his body the following day.
He was the fifth person to be killed in Queensland’s February floods, and the third death in the Gympie region.
Mr Sugg left behind three children, the youngest just one-year-old, and his fiance Klarissa Wilkinson.
She told the Gympie Times on Thursday she was “overwhelmed” at the news, and isolated herself from friends and family for days.
“I’m absolutely devastated right now,” she said.
“My two older children are handling it better than me at the moment but our one-year-old will not understand what’s happening; just that daddy hasn’t come home.
“Our daughter keeps telling me I will be okay and daddy’s always in our hearts.
“I tell her I know it will be okay one day, but right now I’m not (okay).”
She described her late partner as a “dedicated father” who “loved his children so much”.
“He was … an amazing partner, always making sure his little family unit was looked after, happy, enjoying life and helping people,” she said.
Mr Sugg had only recently been promoted to team leader on the slaughter floor at Gympie’s Nolan Meats, a job which Ms Wilkinson said he loved.
He was in the process of completing his twelfth certificate through work.
“He could say all the big technical words for pretty much everything,” she said.
“After each certificate he said ‘one more, and that’s it’. I would laugh and say ‘there will be more’.
“He was happy with working, learning and succeeding in what he wanted to do, and he loved that had the weekends for family time.”
As tributes flowed online, Mr Sugg was described by a colleague as “well liked by the boys on the slaughter floor”.
“He will be sorely missed, he was a great guy,” Heidi Robertson wrote on Facebook.
Ms Wilkinson said she had no idea her partner had made such an impact.
“I cannot thank people enough for the love and support that is given in this time. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
A GoFundMe started by friend and neighbour Andrea Dickfos has exceeded the original goal of $10,000 and reached $10,690 at the time of publishing.
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