LOGAN Braunack was a young man on the up.

He was 25 years old, had just started his own business and had a network of friends and family that would be the envy of many.

He worked and partied hard, loved tattoos, the gym and being with friends and family.

Mum Leanne beams with pride when she talks of her cheeky son with a smile that could light up a room.

“He had a vision in life, he had a dream to run his own business,” Leanne said.

And he did. After “working his butt off” completing his tiling apprenticeship in record time and getting real-world experience, he started his business Prime Professional Tiling in July last year.

“He was in such demand,” Leanne said.

“He hit the ground running and he never stopped,” dad Gavin added.

Logan lived his life by the motto: “If you want something, you get out there and you earn it.”

Gavin said Logan loved his ‘toys’.

“The cars, the motocross bikes and stuff like that … the last car was a (Holden) VE SS.

“Plus the work ute.”

“And he owned it all,” Leanne said.

“Everything in Logan’s life was if you want it, you pay cash for it.

“He wasn’t a credit person.

“And to do that, he worked very hard.”

DAY OF THE CRASH

WORK hard – that’s what Logan was heading off to do on the morning of November 25.

Dressed in high-vis, Logan was on his way to a tiling job.

The details of the crash are still incomplete, with the family waiting on a report from the coroner, but what they do know is that Logan lost control of his car while negotiating a right-hand bend near a farm at Runnymede.

He was on his way to do some work for a mate’s dad at Dolphin Sands.

Gavin said the family had been told by emergency services that the road was a little bit ‘greasy’ that morning.

“He came around a right-hand bend and for whatever reason, crossed across the other side of the road and went down an embankment on to the grass,” Gavin said.

“He pretty much followed the line of the fence … he was hard on the brakes.

“From what we’ve been told there was a culvert that was covered up by grass, which he wouldn’t have seen.

“So he’s hit that … launched into the trees.

“And from what we can gather … he didn’t suffer.”

Leanne said it was difficult because the family still didn’t know the exact cause of the crash.

“There were so many questions not answered,” Leanne said. “We know that he wasn’t drinking. We know that there were no drugs in his system.

“We don’t know the rest of the circumstances around it.”

THE HARDEST CALL OF ALL

THE morning of Logan’s crash, Gavin and Leanne were both at work.

Gavin was at Burson Auto Parts in Moonah and Leanne at a call centre for Aurora.

Tasmania Police officers first tried the family home to inform next of kin of Logan’s death. They knocked on the door but didn’t get any response.

“Our youngest daughter was there,” Gavin said. “She was asleep, (so) didn’t hear.”

Police then moved on to the couple’s eldest daughter’s home and the officer delivered the terrible news to her.

“I got a phone call at work, roughly 9.30, quarter to 10,” Gavin said.

“My phone rang out at first because I was busy dealing with deliveries and stuff.

“And then I answered the second call … Amber was in hysterics on the other end, crying and sobbing.

“She said, ‘the police officers are saying Logan has died in a car accident’.”

The news rocked Gavin.

“I was just trying to comprehend it all,” he said.

“She put a police officer on and I spoke to him. I was upset and trying to process everything.”

Gavin then jumped in the car and went around to Amber’s house to console her and talk to police officers.

He then rang his youngest daughter, Cheyenne, who was now out of bed.

“I said ‘don’t go out, stay home’,” Gavin remembered.

“Unfortunately, I had to tell her the news over the phone and she ended up screaming and crying on the other end of the phone.”

Neighbours came over to console Cheyenne, but the hardest call he had to make was yet to come.

It was to Leanne at work.

“I was en route to the call centre. I’d sent her a message without saying too much.”

It read, “grab your stuff, meet me downstairs”.

But Gavin and the police officer didn’t make it to Leanne’s work before she rang to find out what was going on.

“I really wanted to tell her face-to-face but I just said ‘it’s Logan, he’s been involved in a car accident’.

“She asked, ‘he’s all right?’

“I said ‘he’s passed’ and broke down on the other end of the phone. It was just a shit-show of a day.”

From there, the rest of the family was given the sad news.

Leanne recalls being downstairs at work on a morning tea break when she first read the story about the crash.

“I can’t remember where I’d read it, but there had been the accident,” Leanne said.

“And I thought oh, that poor family.

“Like, you know, it’s so close to Christmas. Not knowing that it was our boy that was in that accident.

“We had been told but you didn’t want to believe it.”

HOW DO WE KNOW IT’S HIM?

WHAT made believing the horrible news for the family even harder was that the body hadn’t been formally identified.

Yes, it was Logan’s vehicle involved in the crash but the body hadn’t been brought back from the scene.

“And you know, we couldn’t do a formal ID … we couldn’t … we had nothing,” Leanne said.

“All we had was they had told us that it was him.”

Due to the timing of the accident – Friday – the family wasn’t able to identify Logan until Monday.

“We wanted answers there and then, and just to see him,” Leanne said.

“You know, they’re asking to do autopsies and things like that.

“But you’re saying yes to a body that you don’t even know is your own child?

“Because you haven’t seen them. You haven’t ID’d them.

“It’s a club that no parent wants to join.

“And it’s that news that no parent ever wants to hear, because you should never have to bury your children, regardless of their age.

“You know you’re never going to hear that voice again.

“You’re never going to see that beautiful smile. You’re never going to get that cheekiness.

“It’s all the little things.”

SEE YOU LATER

Logan had a large circle of friends and to cater for the expected numbers at the funeral the family booked MyState Bank Arena for the service.

It was the first funeral ever held at the venue with about 700 people turning up to pay their last respects to a wonderful human.

The family decked out the JackJumpers home with all Logan’s toys.

“It was quite big,” Leanne said.

“We had his car and his bike there with him.”

Gavin said if Logan had been around to see the turnout he would have been “trippin’”.

“It would have been good for his ego,” Gavin said.

“He really would have thought he had done it,” Leanne said.

“I’ve made the big stage, and he’d be very proud of that.”

Despite knowing Logan’s far-reaching connections in the community after booking the massive venue for the funeral, the family were still a little concerned.

“He was part of so many different groups of mates,” Leanne said.

“He had his party circle, his work circle, the car and bike circle.

“But then he had his best mates.

“We were still worried, because we thought he’ll pull one last joke and we’ll get 100 people there,” Leanne laughed.

But they had nothing to worry about. On the day of the funeral the people just came.

“By the time we got there at about 9.45am, it was packed,” Leanne said.

“The carpark at the front was full and we were just like, how do we face this?

“How do you face all these people on a day like this?”

The way the family coped was by making the funeral a celebration of Logan.

“His funeral wasn’t really a funeral,” Leanne said.

“It was more a see-you-later day.

“We wanted it to be a celebration of his life.”

LEGAL NIGHTMARE

Logan’s ashes now sit in an urn at the family home.

“We’ve decided to keep them home for the time being, we’re not ready to let them go,” Leanne said.

While the family are still coming to terms with the death, they are also dealing with the legal ramifications of a young person passing away.

“A lot of people don’t realise what happens when young kids pass away without a will,” Leanne said.

“And if they don’t have any legal documents, the next steps are up to us.

“Cleaning up the mess left behind, basically.”

And that’s not easy to negotiate while going through one of the most traumatic events of someone’s life, Leanne explained.

“It’s dealing with all his, not so much his personal stuff, but all the legal stuff, like trying to close his business, trying to deal with insurance companies, trying to deal with superannuation, trying to deal with the coroner, the police, the ongoing investigation and real estate.”

“And like trying to prove that you’re his mother,” Gavin said.

“It’s very confronting.”

PRESERVING HIS MEMORY

But the family is pushing on, determined not to let anyone forget their son or the great person and friend he was.

Already two nightclubs in town, Amore and Ivory, have added tributes to Logan in their venues.

“He was loved by so many that Amore and Ivory have both photos and plaques up for him in his memory,” Leanne said.

“He loved the clubs.

“Everyone said he spent half his time talking to people about their problems and supporting them.

“It didn’t matter if you had money or you had no money, if you needed a mate, and you were down and out, he’d be there to talk to you.

“He was just that type of guy.

“He wasn’t a big drinker … he liked girly drinks more than anything – his vodka Cruisers,” Leanne laughed.

So much so that Ivory has now named its Skittle Bomb cocktail the Logan Bomb.

“He loved Skittle Bombs, so that drink is now dedicated to him on a Saturday night when they are open.”

The other way the family is honouring their lost son is by supporting the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

“At the funeral, we asked for people to donate money to the NICU centre,” Leanne said.

Logan always wanted to have children but he never got to have that opportunity, she said.

The family is now using that money to put together care packages for the families that need NICU.

“Rather than giving it to the Royal to sit in an account and just go wherever, I’ve been at home making cards and bags,” Leanne said.

“Each bag will be personalised and have little gifts in them.”

The reason behind the gesture is Logan’s two beautiful goddaughters who were born prematurely.

Charlotte and Ivy, the daughters of Logan’s best mate Bayley and Bayley’s partner Krista, were born at 26 weeks and spent quite a bit of time in NICU. Logan’s time at the centre was life-changing.

“We want them (premmie babies) to have something special to take home with them you know, whether it’s their first little outfit or a comfort toy,” Leanne said.

LIVING EACH DAY

Yesterday is gone, today is almost over and tomorrow is never promised.

After the devastating loss of Logan, Leanne and Gavin have a few simple messages for road-users and families.

“Maybe, I think the biggest message out of all of this is just love your children,” Leanne said.

“You know, support them.

“Take time to teach them right from wrong, because … yesterday is gone, today is almost over and tomorrow is never promised.”

Her other message was to try to make time for family no matter how busy life becomes.

“Society has become so busy,” Leanne said.

“And with the cost of living and the rising costs of, you know, trying to run a home, everybody is so busy that you don’t get to spend that quality family time together.

“And I think that’s a big lesson out of this … don’t let society take over.

“Don’t let go of those family values, that bonding and spending time with one another.”

Gavin agreed but added another message about taking time on the road and taking those extra few seconds to make sure everyone was safe.

“A driver’s licence is a rite of passage through adolescence, it’s a golden ticket, treat it as liquid gold,” Gavin said.

“It’s just a case of just slowing down in life.

“Take that extra time … take that extra breath and get to where you’re going safely, ’cause Logan’s was just a single-vehicle accident. And at the end of the day, we are saddened and traumatised by the loss of our boy but are glad that no other family was involved and do not have to live with the heartache and pain we live with daily.”