Keeping Memories Alive

My brother John was only two years older than me, but we were inseparable. We grew up together, worked in the same industry, and often collaborated. John was a well‑known voiceover artist, and I’m a sound engineer. Many of the commercials I produced for national radio and TV featured his unmistakable voice. It was a bond built on family, creativity, and countless shared hours in studios and on the road.

Most Saturdays, we’d drive from Melbourne back to the LaTrobe Valley where we grew up. John loved stopping at cemeteries along the way—wandering between headstones, reading inscriptions, imagining the lives behind the names. I never fully understood it at the time, but I do now.

On June 29, 2020, at 1:30pm, my world changed forever. I went to visit John at his home and found that he had passed away. The shock was indescribable. The grief was overwhelming. And in the middle of that heartbreak, I was confronted with something I never expected: the impossible task of reducing his extraordinary life to a few words carved into stone.

A static headstone felt painfully inadequate.

So I created something different—something worthy of him. I built an online tribute filled with his voiceover work, photos, and even a cinema commercial he voiced that played in theatres across Australia. Then I linked it to a QR code and permanently affixed it to his headstone.

This means that anybody with a smartphone can simply scan the code and instantly bring John to life. You see his face, read about him, hear his voice. Scan this Medallion to see my testimonial. If you are reading this on your smartphone, just tap it.