Remembering Jeremy
Don’t waste another moment waiting to live out your dreams, former Penticton radio host Jeremy McGoran encouraged the approximately 300 people who turned out Monday for his memorial service.
Speaking on a video he created after taking a solo trip to Detroit in October 2016 to watch his beloved Red Wings play, McGoran urged viewers to follow his example — cost and other concerns be damned.
“If you have something like that on your bucket list that has been on that list for way too long, figure out a way to get it done, because you most certainly won’t regret it,” he said.
The video was shot about 10 months after McGoran revealed publicly that he’d been struggling for years with anxiety and depression.
He got help through medication, therapy and lifestyle changes, but lost the fight on June 9, when he took his own life, leaving behind his wife, Mare, and six-year-old son, Thomas.
“Jeremy couldn’t take the pain anymore, but I want you to keep fighting,” Mare said in a video eulogy played during the service, which was staged at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.
“He was a good man and he struggled for a really long time, and I know he’s now at peace.”
The crowd heard McGoran, who had two younger brothers, was born and raised in Langley, then studied radio broadcasting at BCIT. He began his career in Smithers in 2002, and two years later landed a job hosting an afternoon show in Prince George.
It was there he met Mare, who he wed in 2009 after the couple moved to Penticton to be closer to her family.
Mare, a former morning show host on Sun FM, described him as a devoted father to Thomas, a caring husband to her and a champion for those living with mental illness.
In her brief live remarks, she thanked the community for the support she’s received since losing her husband.
“I honestly feel there’s no way that I could crumble because I really feel you all just holding me,” she said.
He was a good man and he struggled for a really long time, and I know he’s now at peace. Mare McGoran
Two other eulogies delivered by McGoran’s boyhood friends painted a picture of a fun-loving sports and music fanatic who boasted an infectious laugh and put his heart into everything he did.
And a video montage featured people from across North America whose lives were touched by McGoran — some he’d met and others he hadn’t, but who were nonetheless inspired by his public battle to de-stigmatize mental illness.
The service was hosted by former Summerland mayor Janice Perrino, who knew McGoran for the better part of a decade through fundraising activities attached to her old job as executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation.
“But like so many of you, where I really got to know Jeremy was on my ride home from work every afternoon as I listened to him on the radio,” on EZ Rock, she said. “He shared his life with all of us.” Perrino, who shared the stage with McGoran’s prized Steve Yzerman sweater, urged attendees not to turn the page too quickly.
“I encourage you to send a note to Mare in three months, in six months and absolutely in a year’s time,” said Perrino, “and remind her that you have not forgotten that Jeremy holds a special place in your heart and that you’re sending her all your love and best wishes.”