Jordan Derkenne Tribute Onlinetributes.com.au

Jordan Derkenne was one of lifes real genuine people. I met him for the first time in February 2007, 5 months after I arrived in Sydney. He worked with one of my close friends Ciaran, or Crum as Jordy called him, Ciaran kept talking about this guy Jordy and I knew he must have been a good guy if Ciaran thought he was worth hanging out with. We met up one pretty random night in a backpackers bar and hit it off, he was great craic and easy to get on with.

We started hanging out all the time with Jordy cooking me some of the nicest food I have ever eaten, I wasn’t a great lover of vegetables or anything unknown to me before I met him and he made me try things and now I have him to thank for my love of sweet potato, delicious lamb shanks and all the lovely things he made me. Jordy was the kind of guy you could just sit in silence with in a lovely big park watching the world go by or quite happily sit in the pub with watching the footie and getting tipsy.

One weekend he decided he was going to take me away somewhere and wouldn’t tell me where we were going – I tried and tried and he wouldn’t tell me, in the end we were supposed to be heading for the Hunter Valley but there was torrential rain and it was washed out. Jordy finished work early that Friday and went ahead of me to see his grandmother and I got the train after work to meet him there in Newcastle, but because of the bad weather the train could only go so far, I was so worried, didn’t have a clue where I was and was wearing a pair of linen trousers and flat shoes – not good when I could have done with a pair of waders! It took so long to get anywhere close to him and as I stood on top of a bench in a bus shelter in the middle of nowhere the white transit van appeared like a vision to rescue me, cars had been abandoned on the roads and there he was to get me. A woman knocked on the window after I got in to see if we could give her a lift and Jordy being the wonderful guy he was said no problem, she offered him money and he wouldn’t take it, he was just doing a good deed for someone he had never met. That night made me realise just what a great guy he was. Once the rain stopped the next day he took me to see Jenni and John in their fabulous home in Eungai, I can honestly say it was like heaven, seeing where he grew up and sitting watching the kangaroos jumping about and listening to Xavier Rudd , it was a weekend I will never forget.

I am sitting crying as I type this so I apologise if it doesn’t make much sense. I am so sad that I never knew Jordy was sick, we hadn’t been in touch for a while but he was such a big part of my life for nearly 2 years I really thought I would see him again at some stage in my life, on a holiday to Oz or if he was back in Ireland that we could have met up. The fact that he was so young and had such a great outlook on life makes it even harder to accept he is gone, I still think of him often and the great time we had together.

I am forever grateful to my friend Ciaran for introducing Derkenne, as I always called him, to me and to Jordy himself for making me feel so special and for giving me myself back and he knew that he did that. I am so glad I have so many pictures to look back on and smile at, it is hard seeing them sometimes but I wouldn’t be without them.

To Jenni, John, Jamie, Danja, Jacinta, Will, Suvi, Caro, Paul, Edith and the entire family circle, my thoughts and prayers are with you all. It was lovely to have met and known you all and Thank You for making me so welcome in your homes and for letting me know about the sad news, I hate to think that I would never have known.

Oiche Maith Derkenne x x x

Whenever Jordo was around life was better. Even if it was as good as it could be it got better when he came round. I loved him dearly like a brother and an uncle. His memory will guide my thoughts words and actions through the rest of my life. I treasure that more than anything – more than a mountain of gold. There’s so much more that’s not expressible. The most special gifts in life are happiness and moments with friends and Jordo always had and always will have a huge place in my heart.