| NW WEEKLY Magazine article --- thanks to Liz --- |
| Clutching family and friends for support, Big Brother’s Jessica Hardy said goodbye to her little brother Billy last week at an emotional funeral service in Tweed Heads on the Gold Coast. With tears streaming down her face, Jess, 25, and hundreds of other mourners celebrated the life of the loveable 20-year-old footballer who was tragically killed in the October 12 Bali bombings. Dressed colourfully to reflect Billy’s vibrant personality, along with her mother Christine, and Billy’s girlfriend Sky Futcher, the reality TV star paid tribute to her brother in a moving poem: “It’s hard to fathom in this time of grief, why your life was only brief, seeing you were the greatest guy, we’d ever known in times gone by.” Jess’s father Bill told the congregation, “I shouldn’t be standing here today. It’s a day that every parent dreads.” Yet his parting words to his son managed to bring a few smiles to the sad faces: “Don’t forget to shine your shoes.” Jess’s boyfriend and fellow Big Brother star Nathan “Marty’ Martin, who became a close friend of Billy, arrived and left separately to the family. Billy was the only member of the Southport Sharks football team who didn’t return from their trip to Bali. Following an agonising search lasting over a month, his remains were finally identified using DNA two weeks ago and returned to his family. About 30 of Billy’s team-mates - some still on crutches and with leg braces from injuries sustained in the bomb blast - supported each other and wore their club shirts with pride. Adorned with blue flowers, six of them carried his coffin and paid tribute to their mate on the podium, gathering for a group hug to comfort each other. Friend Scott Lawton said in the eulogy, “Jess and Billy had a bond of love and we had a love and bond as a team.” The mood in the church was sombre but brightened by a video montage being played. The tape showed Billy in his baby photos, playing football with his mates, at school and hugging Jess on Big Brother upon her eviction. Towards the end of the ceremony, girlfriend Sky lit a candle as a send-off to Billy before his coffin was carried from the church. Outside, Jess and her brother’s mates couldn’t contain their emotions, breaking down when he was placed into the hearse. Afterwards, guests attended a private wake at the Twin Towns Services Club. Two weeks earlier Jess and her father had travelled to Bali for a special Hindu purification ceremony in order to set Billy’s soul free on the site where he lost his life. “It was good to experience some of what Billy did in happier times,” said Jess of the visit. In an interview on the Nine Network’s Burke’s Backyard last week, Jess said her family had etched Billy’s name in concrete outside their house as a tribute. “He held us together here, and life from now on will be different here,” she said quietly. “I’ve never known life without Billy and he was so close to Mum and Dad - he was the perfect brother and son and he’ll always be with us.” |
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