Bright, patterned novelty socks seem about as far removed as you can get from the death of NSW paramedic Steven Tougher who was killed while at work last year.
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But on Sunday, a year since his death on April 14, 2023, the 29-year-old family and colleagues from around the state will pull up their silly socks to honour his big, joyful spirit.
Jeff Tougher said many people were shocked to hear a year had passed since the day his son was killed in the car park of Campbelltown McDonalds, but - for his family - it felt like he'd been gone a lifetime.
"People say to me, 'I can't believe it's a year'," Mr Tougher said.
"Quite honestly, it's been like 500 years for us. But it's very deep and it's very raw every day still."
Mr Tougher said he was still shocked by how his beloved boy's life had been cut short.
"Steven had just been married for about 34 days. He was married in March, died in April and his baby was born in May - I couldn't write a sadder story than that," he said.
"But this is a chance for us to accept other people's gratitude for what he did and accept their outpouring of goodwill to us and I believe it's good for the community to do that.
"There's so many levels of grief that my family have had to deal with from start to finish, and it's still very, very raw, but we could lay down and cry and die, but Steven wouldn't allow us to do that."
Remembering 'laughter and humility and compassion'
Mr Tougher said Steven would have relished the chance to participate in the dress-up event and secretly wore his own silly socks under his paramedics uniform most days anyway.
"Steven would have been up to his armpits in this," he said.
"He was a head shaver for shave for this and shave for that and anything he could do to help the community, it's just Steven all over."
NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said the young paramedic's death in the line of duty had been "one of our greatest losses ever".
"We've had a few discussions with his family about how do you mark such an amazing life that was taken so quickly and we came up with Silly Socks Day," Dr Morgan said.
He said all paramedics and health workers, and the broader community were invited to participate on Sunday April 14.
"What we know about Steven was, at his core, he was this larger than life, fun loving guy," he said
"You cannot come across a person that ever met him that won't have some anecdote or yarn about some amazing situation he found himself in that he managed to make a laugh out of.
"If you're going to mark the passing of someone in such tragic circumstances, the best thing you can do is to recognise what that person brought to the table.
"He brought laughter and humility and compassion, and so we decided with Steven's family that the best way to do that was just do something silly and crazy and make a positive out of what otherwise would be a very sad day."
While the bright socks won't keep sadness at bay, Dr Morgan said paramedics were resilient.
"Our people are tough," he said.
"They come to work every day to do the best thing for their community and they take pride in the fact that they prioritize their sense of duty to the community above all else.
"They will take solace in the fact that Steven is being recognised and they will seek help as they need to seek help, but they will continue to come to work for the community and they'll be proud to do it."
NSW Ambulance Inspector Matt Sterling said he and his colleagues would be donning silly socks in the same way they always wore their uniform.
"We put on our uniform each day, and it identifies and us as part of a team," he said.
"So to have an initiative where we wear a pair of socks for Steven, that just recognises that he's still part of our team."
Push for better paramedics safety
Dr Morgan said there had been significant investment in mental health and occupational violence protection in the year since Steven's death.
"Only in recent times, we've been told that we'll be going forward with additional recurrent funding into the future, so the future looks bright around the initiatives that we're doing," he said.
Mr Tougher - who has been fighting to make things safer for paramedics and front line workers - said he wanted to assure the community that "things are afoot in the background" with regards to Steven's Law.
The family wants new mandatory sentencing laws - including a mandatory life sentence in the case of murder - for attacks on ambulance officers and the state's other service men and women.
"Obviously we haven't got a date for the trial yet, but there are things going on," he said.
"I'm 100% on the course to make the workplace safer for these people and all front line workers, teachers, nurses, police, firemen, even myself - I work in the housing sector - to support those changes."
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
