Obituary of Dillon MacGregor

On December 4th, 2021 Dillon Tarkington MacGregor, age 23, passed away in Lubbock, TX. He will be remembered as a loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, and friend to many. His family and friends are devastated to see a bright flame extinguished so early, and it is clear to see that so many people will miss the warmth he brought to their lives. A beautiful baby boy named Tmnta Abon was born on April 5th, 1998 on Majuro Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. At the age of two months, he was adopted into the family of his new parents Matthew and May MacGregor, along with his new brother Collin. Matthew and May decided to name their new baby Dillon Tarkington MacGregor. Dillon’s family traveled over 6,000 miles from Dallas, TX to bring him to his new home. At the time of his adoption, Dillon was also very ill with pneumonia. May happened to bring some albuterol and a nebulizer along on the trip since Collin used to have asthma attacks. This medicine was key to ensuring Dillon was healthy enough to make the journey to his new home in Dallas where he could start his new life. Unlike most other babies, Dillon skipped the crawling and walking phase and went straight to running at the age of only eight months. On a family vacation to the Philippines, baby Dillon had been observing other toddlers and had finally decided he wanted to play just like the other kids. To the surprise of his parents and family members present, our little Buddha Baby (lovingly named due to his large baby cheeks and ever-present smile) suddenly ran across the living room from a coffee table to a couch, gaining mobility. For the rest of the trip baby Dillon became known as a bowling ball in addition to being a Buddha baby, and his family had to keep up with his boundless energy ever since. Growing up with multiple family trips to Walt Disney World, Dillon’s favorite character was Tigger. Because of this Dillon could always be found climbing on top of and jumping down from various objects. He would also creatively disassemble both his own toys and his brother’s legos. Dillon always had a voracious appetite where just about anything and everything could be put in front of him and you could expect his plate to be emptied. No one who knew him would ever consider Dillon to be a “picky” eater. Dillon was extremely active in sports over the years, including soccer, baseball, basketball, football, flag football, wrestling, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and field events. He loved camping from his experiences in Cub Scouts, Webelos, and Boy Scouts. Dillon particularly enjoyed all of the additional bonding time he was able to spend with his parents and younger brother Trevlan, who helped foster Dillon’s enjoyment of camping and cooking, which he carried into his friendships made at Texas Tech. ​ The MacGregor family is known for road trip vacations, particularly the annual trip to Disney World. Dillon visited the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Gettysburg, and Boy Scout Jamboree, which included Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. He also took ski trips and came along for the ride of Collin’s 22-state prospective college road trip. One summer he traveled through Florida with his grandfather Jim MacGregor to explore parts of the coast and the Everglades. In college, Dillon continued this tradition by having ski trips and lake hangouts with his friends while attending Texas Tech. Dillon attended the same preschool as his two brothers, East Dallas Development Center. He then attended a number of schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, including Saint Thomas Aquinas, Alex Sanger Elementary, Stonewall Jackson Elementary, Saint Patrick’s Catholic School, Dallas Learning Center, Willow Bend Academy, and Woodrow Wilson High School, where he graduated Class of 2016. After high school, Dillon moved to Lubbock, TX to attend Texas Tech University, where he pursued a Bachelor’s in Communication Studies with a minor in Marketing. He was only a few days from completing 15 credit hours this semester. He was making plans to carry 18 credit hours of college work during the spring semester, followed by attending summer school classes, in order to complete all requirements necessary for graduation by August 2022. He will be remembered not only as a true Red Raider at Texas Tech University but as a highly spirited, loyal, caring, goofy friend to so many. With the financial support provided by his parents, Dillon paid for school through a variety of jobs which included landscaping, handyman contractor jobs, a bar bouncer, UPS worker, and jobs at Walmart, Kingsaver’s Grocery Store, Panera Bread, Chick-fil-A, and more. Dillon was always hustling and would share stories with family and friends about how he would like to open his own business where he could eventually provide for his own family. Dillon’s most recent business venture concept was his own hot dog stand called Ling’s Links, which is a play on one of Dillon’s high school nicknames of “Ling Ling.” He was a great cook and had a passion for creating his own cuisines. One of Dillon’s greatest supporters and best friends was his late father, Matthew MacGregor, who worked tirelessly to make sure Dillon could complete all the necessary work to graduate from Woodrow. Although Dillon struggled with the transition to college, Matt continued to provide the love and support to help Dillon stay on track. In January 2018, Matt was diagnosed with an incurable cancer, and after an almost two-year-long struggle he passed away in November 2019. Matt’s dream was for Dillon to finish college. Dillon was deeply affected by the loss of his Papa; however, through his grieving Dillon started to really improve on his grades and had a line of sight to graduation. In the past few years, Dillon had started to take on his father’s mannerisms and habits for detailed note-taking in flip notebooks with budgets, musings of the day, and random drawings.​ Dillon was a person who was full of life and love. The hardest part about grieving a life cut short is all of the “will never be” moments and memories of the times that could have been. Dillon is survived by his mother May; his brothers Collin and Trevlan; his grandparents Jim and Barb MacGregor and Daisy Quizon; and aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members who loved him very much. Dillon’s remains will be buried in nature next to his father Matthew. —----------------------------------- His funeral mass will be at 2 pm on Monday, December 20th at Saint Patrick Catholic Church, address: 9643 Ferndale Road Dallas, TX 75238 A reception memorial will follow after the funeral from 3 pm - 6 pm at Nance Hall at Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, address: 3204 Skillman St Dallas, TX 75206