Vale Dean Trevaskis – a bloody awesome bloke (soon to be kookaburra)

Dean Trevaskis 10.04.68 – 13.08.2021

The Echo was very sad to hear of the passing of one of our valued contributors. Dean Trevaskis, aged 53, submitted many a rollicking rugby and AFL story to our sports pages over the years. Dean was a bloody awesome bloke and the world is a tiny bit less bright without him in it.

One of Dean’s immeasurable legacies is his daughter’s talent for writing…

Story Molly Trevaskis

This past Friday, surrounded by family, Dean Trevaskis passed away peacefully. Dean had been fighting Stage 4 brain cancer (glioblastoma) since November last year.

Dean grew up in a little town near Melbourne called Shepparton and family has always been such an important thing to him. His dad passed away at age 54 of cancer. His mum Janis Trevaskis is still in Shepparton, and he has sisters Kerri and Jayde. He worked really hard to always check in on them and update them with how everything was going.

Dean studied nursing at La Trobe University in Melbourne and then went into psych nursing. He did that for 20 years and worked in some of the biggest psychiatric hospitals in the world, including Broadmoor in England where he looked after people like Peter Sutcliffe, the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’. He also sold little devices called ‘QuitKeys’ which were meant to stop nicotine addiction, but his biggest passion was journalism and writing. He often wished that he did that instead of nursing.

Dean and Suze got married 22 years ago and have been living in Ocean Shores for the past 12 years. Dean was always passionate about trying to help other people. He was working on an article about suicide prevention, which I found. His goal was to make everyone else happy.

He always loved to hear me sing as well, and because we used to do bush poetry together he always wanted me to turn one of his poems into a song. We learnt guitar together as well, which was difficult because he was tone-deaf, as well as being actually deaf.

Go Shiners!

Dean was always a big supporter of the Moonshiners Rugby Club. He used to play for the team and occasionally write union stories for the sports pages of The Echo. He was always a passionate writer, bush poet and storyteller, which he has passed on well to me.

Another place he loved was the Ocean Shores Country Club. It was like Dean’s second home. I remember him going at every spare chance he could and coming home in the middle of the night with a big grin on his face. I was really proud to see him become such a well known and well-loved face there, and to be surrounded by a community that I knew would do anything for him, just like he would do for them. He was so proud to call it his club, and I know he is up there now, very proud.

Dean established a local business, Deeper Water Cleaning, from the ground up ten years ago. He always employed local people and many people with disadvantages. His business ethics were strong and he was loved by his employees as much as his friends and well-respected by his customers.

There are not many people in the world as loved as Deano. The amount of people that have respect and love for him and have been inspired by him is amazing.

Though gravely ill, he was still the same person

Throughout Dean’s illness, he was still the same person he always had always been. His resilience, hopefulness and love was and still is admired by everybody who had the pleasure of knowing him. He was a father, husband, son, brother, friend and mentor.

His selflessness and compassion lie in the hearts of everyone who knew him. His roles in the Moonshiners rugby club, Ocean Shores Country Club and community show that he will never be forgotten.

Before he passed, Deano told us all that he was coming back as a kookaburra, and now we have been hearing them everywhere. So, keep your ears out, he might be coming for a little visit.

Dean Trevaskis was the most inspiring, driven, dedicated, faithful, radiant, hopeful, intelligent, creative, selfless, loving, proud, loved, treasured, respected, giving, humorous, special, interesting and extraordinary person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Rest easy, keep your head up, we love you to the ends of the Earth, and we can’t wait to see you again soon.

Dean Trevaskis leaves behind his wife Suzette, his children Molly, Jimmy, Courtney, his mother Janis Trevaskis and sisters Kerri and Jayde.