Hi I’m Ben, I’m Jake’s older brother. I’d like to thank you all for being here. I think Jake would have been overwhelmed with the love in this room. Not just in a figurative sense, he would have had crippling social anxiety to know you’re all here because of him. I’d like to thank everyone that had a part in organizing this sendoff for Jake and for the outpouring of love and support that we’ve all received in the past week.

I’d also like to extend the love and thanks from my wife, Bianca, who was a massive fan of Jake’s. Bianca wanted to be here for Jake and for all of us but is kindly staying behind and keeping our two children alive in Los Angeles, so some of what I’m sharing today comes from her too.

Today is the 4th of July, or Independence Day in America, which seems fitting as a day of remembrance not only because of Jake’s independent spirit, but because Jake was a little Yankee boy.

I’m grateful for all the stories shared about Jake today and in the past week. Jake was a lot of different Jakes for all of us. He was brother Jake, son Jake, juvenile delinquent Jake, adult delinquent Jake, Jake the snake wrangler, world traveler Jake, snow rat Jake, farmer Jake, ranger Jake, water scientist Jake, my best man Jake, recently uncle Jake, he was always Jaaaaaaaaake, but to Bianca and I one of our favorite Jakes was couch guy Jake.

Jake’s life seemed like a series of adventures. He had a fearless pursuit of trying new things in new places and threw himself fully at them. Now, I’ve lived in the states for over a decade now and a lot of Jake’s adventures in that time involved coming to stay on our couch, often for weeks or months at a time. Sometimes the apartments Bianca and I lived in were a springboard for other destinations, sometimes we were the destination.

We were fortunate enough to be a part of Jake’s adventure. Grateful that he got to stay with us for a while.

So, you may associate the term couch guy with someone that was unmotivated. Lazy. Directionless. That was not our couch guy. Jake was resourceful. Like the time he stayed with us for Christmas in the East Village of NY before moving to Steamboat CO. Jake had convinced his employer in Brisbane to let him work remotely over a decade before anyone else was doing it, so he could keep his technical drawing job and live in the mountains for snowboarding. I remember watching Jake designing hydraulic schematics on a futon, using an ironing board for a desk and just being in awe of how well he’d pulled it off.

We were fortunate enough to be a part of Jake’s adventure. Grateful that he got to stay with us for a while.

Jake was always down for the ride and full of surprises. Like, when we arrived at the car rental place before embarking on a multi-state road-trip through the central east coast. At the desk, I asked Jake for his license so he could be added as a driver, to which he replied “ooooh, nah I don’t have a license right now”.

Jake was resilient and adaptive. This next part comes from Bianca:

One of my favorite memories was when Jake was in town to visit before he went to live in Costa Rica, but the day he was due to fly out was the day Hurricane Sandy hit NY. In addition to the intense rain and wind, a power plant in our downtown neighborhood exploded, leaving us in the dark for a full week and a lot up in the air - like how to get food, drinks, take hot showers and how Jake was going to get to Costa Rica. While lower Manhattan was on its way to descending into martial law, after eating beans by candlelight for a few days, we discovered that the rest of the city, besides downtown NYC, was business as usual - lights on, hot water, working ATMs, etc. We decided to go on little adventures each day - walking to Hell’s Kitchen and Brooklyn, to get back to civilization, only to later trek back to our dark apartment up 6 flights of stairs.

On Friday, after a week of this, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to take showers at a friend’s house followed by one of the most epic meals. Jake devoured the most food I have ever seen a human consume at an amazing diner called Junior’s. His appetite for BBQ was impressive, to the point where he ate a full rack of ribs, a basket of corn bread and probably close to a full fried chicken. That appetite for BBQ became a trend every time after that he came to visit. We finished dinner, the power came back and soon after Jake flew out to Costa Rica. Hurricane Sandy was a tragedy for some and an inconvenience to others. For us it was a time when Ben, Jake and I got to spend time together without the usual distractions. Just figuring it out together. More importantly, it has become a story I can tell to my kids one day about their Uncle Jake. 

We were fortunate enough to be a part of Jake’s adventure. Grateful that he got to stay with us for a while.

Jake would be committed. Like when Jake stayed with us in Brooklyn and we tried making beef jerky in a food dehydrator. We made a few batches of pretty decent jerky and decided that we should come up with a brand for it. So Rudlin Bros. Tasty Meat Snacks was born, but Jake didn’t stop there. He was like, we need packaging and merchandise! So there were sample bags made, there were hats and t-shirts. All for a couple of batches of food dehydrator beef jerky. Jake didn’t stop there though. He got a Meat Snacks tattoo, much to Mum’s disappointment.

And through all these adventures Jake had in the States with us, he left such a lasting impression on everyone he’d encounter. On American friends, family and coworkers, just as he did with all of us. And after he’d leave, they would ask things like, “hey man, what’s your brother up to these days? Where’s he living now? Is he surfing? Is he still working with turtles? I heard he stabbed himself through the hand with a bowie knife, is he doing ok? His life was fascinating. He was the inspiring anomaly. His character, adventures and antics were worthy of stories.

We loved him. We’ll miss him. We were fortunate enough to be a part of Jake’s adventure. Grateful that he got to stay with us for a while.