Dylan McPadden funeral service hears how popular 26-year-old touched lives of all who knew him

Mourners at the funeral of a man killed at a Gold Coast tavern have heard how the ‘vibrant, joyful, adventurous’ 26-year-old had brought ‘love and brightness’ to all who knew him.

Dylan McPadden died in Robina on August 17.

Mourners at the funeral of Dylan McPadden have been encouraged to find their own version of the light radiated by the popular 26-year-old, symbolised by bright yellow sunflowers that dominated the service.

Mr McPadden’s life was tragically cut short when he was stabbed at RQ’s Tavern in Robina, where he was a well-known and popular customer, on Thursday August 17.

However the hundreds of family and friends at the Southport Church of Christ on Thursday were encouraged to dwell not on that moment of darkness, but focus on the light that Dylan brought to the world

“The love and the brightness that Dylan brought, it’s one of those magnetising things that some people have, and you run across those people once in a while through your life and hold tight to them,” his father Bruce McPadden said.

“ … I was so impressed one day when I went down the back of our house. He’d planted this tree. And then he’d planted a sunflower. Nothing seemed to be working.

“Then one day I woke up and went down there and there’s this sunflower, it must have grown in a matter of hours.

“It was just facing the sun, it was in full bloom, and it was amazing.

“ … (Sunflowers are) always trying to find a source of light. I’d like to encourage you to find your source of light.

“Sunflowers symbolise loyalty, happiness, dedication, devotion, positivity and joy. I don’t know if I’d ever seen him truly away from those things. That was Dylan.”

Dylan McPadden’s family hold sunflowers as they follow his hearse through a guard of honour at the Southport Church of Christ. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Bruce recalled a son “always exploring ways to spread joy and love” and looking to find ways to make the world a better place.

“He loved his friends, family and he hugged well,” he said.

“He always said to us as he left the house or any other place, ‘I love you Dad, I love you Mum, I love you mate’, to (younger brother) Jakey.

“He did it because he always thought that there might be one time when it might be the last time that he saw his dad, because his dad might get hit by a truck, or something might happen.

“The night (that he died) we had our dinner, he kissed me on the head, gave me a hug, off he went. In such a tragedy, that’s a good thing to be hanging on to, and it’s part of seeking our light.”

Dylan’s mother Carol recalled the day her beloved first son was born in Athens, Ohio, and the “priceless” years the family shared, first in the United States, then from December 1999 in Australia. A child with a love for skateboarding – “our family holidays always revolved around finding the most epic skateboard parks” – and later a passion for music.

Dylan McPadden died in Robina on August 17.

In 2018, the family moved back to the Unites States for a period, but Dylan, now a grown man, chose to stay on the Gold Coast.

“Saying goodbye at the airport was so incredibly hard,” Carol said. “Little did I know we would be facing an even harder goodbye five years later.

“ … Dylan lived a lot of life in his nearly 27 years. He was crazy, he was smart, so smart, fun, and he dreamed big.

“We’ll never forget the colourful onesies, outfits, crazy sunglasses that he would show up in.”

Carol recalled how, in his final months, Dylan had shared many meals with his family – including on the night he was torn away from them.

“He loved a good meal. Going to Korean Barbecue, trying different places, and always with a big group of friends, having a good time,” she said.

“ … We have to count it a blessing that he had dinner with us that night, right before he was so tragically taken from us.”

A guard of honour for Dylan McPadden as the hearse leaves church grounds. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Tributes were also paid by family friends and Dylan’s girlfriend Amara, while pictures shown in a montage to mourners displayed Dylan’s life in all its light and colour – playing as a child, on holidays, skateboarding, enjoying dinners with family and friends.

The former Hillcrest Christian College and Nerang State High School student’s coffin was led from the service to the sound of the Bob Dylan classic, ‘Forever Young’, before a guard of honour, many hundreds strong, saw off the hearse carrying a young man brother Jacob had told mourners was a “vibrant, joyful, adventurous, witty, one-of-a-kind person”.

“Dylan’s sunflower spirit is going to follow us everywhere we go and I’m sure we all have a little bit of Dylan in all of us,” he said.

“I love you Dylan. Love you mate. Thanks for being the best brother you could ever ask for.”

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