Thirty years after leaving St Stephen’s School, Taryn McCormick still remembers the people and the moments that made her school days fun. There was Mr Herewini, who had a big influence on Taryn and her siblings, plenty of after-school sport, Mrs Marsh buying the food they made in cooking class and, perhaps most memorably, the fun they had in Mrs Williams’ Modelling with Maths class. Some of those connections have lasted well beyond the school gates too. “We had the best 30-year reunion and didn’t think many of us had changed!” Taryn laughs. “As soon as the crew started coming through the doors, it was like high school days.”
Taryn left school with plans to become a policewoman, completing a year of study before heading overseas to work in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Homesickness eventually brought her back to Perth and as is so often the case, life took her somewhere quite different. She married husband Joe 26 years ago and together they became foster carers to many young people over the years. Their daughter Alek became a permanent part of their family in 2010. Today Taryn has three adult children, Josh, Logan and Alek, and a six-year-old grandson, Koa. “My family is my greatest achievement, ” she says.
There is now a second generation of Taryn’s family with their own St Stephen’s School memories. Sons Josh and Logan both attended the School and in a lovely full-circle moment, were also taught by Mr Herewini. These days Logan is a High Voltage Protection Electrician who has worked in Papua New Guinea and FIFO locations, while Josh spent five years in the Army and now works for a marine technology company. Alek lives locally with Koa and, in news that might make a few people navigating Perth’s current property market slightly envious, all three of Taryn’s children have managed to buy their own homes.
Care has also been a constant in Taryn’s working life. She spent many years with Child Protection and Family Support, working alongside young people before taking some time out to travel and decide what her next adventure might be. She found it with Wilson Medic One, where she now works full time as an Ambulance Patient Transport Officer. Taryn transports people of all ages, including palliative care and voluntary mental health patients, as well as people requiring hospital transfers. The job can take her anywhere across the metropolitan area or as far as Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and Albany. “We never know where we are going,” she says, but one thing she does know is that she “absolutely LOVES” the work.
Away from work, Taryn and Joe love travelling the world together and are enjoying life as “young empty nesters”. She is also, in her own words, an “absolute mad Fremantle Dockers supporter”. Taryn attended her first games in Year 12 with school friend Jenny Davis and has now been a Fremantle Football Club member for 30 years. There is only one thing left to say on that front: Taryn is hoping 2026 is THE YEAR for FREO, and we’re certainly not going to argue with her.
Perhaps the best measure of those 30 years comes from what Taryn would tell the Year 12 student who was once in such a hurry to work out what came next. “Slow down, take the long roads and don’t be in such a hurry to complete everything as soon as possible. Be proud of who you were and who you have become. Take time to see the world, take a look at the beautiful place we live in. Keep being kind and appreciative.” Looking at the family Taryn has built, the young people she has cared for, the places she has travelled and the friendships that can still make 30 years disappear in an instant, it sounds like advice earned through a life very well lived.