Where Are They Now?
After a devastating car accident in 2011, doctors told Dublin graduate Tyler Tuck he would never walk again. Tuck would not be discouraged, though. Through months of work and determination, he finally proved the doctors wrong.
That perseverance has been a theme throughout Tuck’s life. From serving in the army, to acting, to modeling, to scuba diving, to working as a security expert for different companies, Tuck has succeeded no matter what others told him. “I’m a big believer in myself,” he said. “If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’m going to try even harder to do it.”
Tuck graduated in 1999, and went to Tarleton. He played baseball and walked onto the football team. At the time, though, he didn’t feel like college was the right choice for him and decided to join the military.
He enlisted in the Army in 2000, completed his basic training, and was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He left the army after two years, and moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. There, he started modeling for runways and catalogs, and also became a recurring extra on Dawson Creek that was filmed there.
He came home to Texas in 2002, and found a job as a private security contractor. The work sent him overseas to Kuwait, Iraq, and Africa, working for the US military. He also worked on and coordinated tours and activities for troops stationed overseas.
“I got to see the world [through that job],” he said. “I’ve been to 60 plus countries and almost every continent. I really enjoyed that, and I liked being over there supporting the troops and helping them out.”
When he finally came back to the states in 2008, he went to the Florida keys to dive school and became a scuba instructor in Florida and the British Virgin Islands, living on a catamaran sailboat.”
After a couple of years in Florida, Tuck came back to Texas again to take care of his uncle, who had suffered a stroke. “While I was taking care of him in Austin, I started talking to a few friends who were musicians, and they asked me to go on the road with them as a tour manager,” he said.
When his uncle had recovered, Tuck spent a while on tour with musicians like the Mark McKinney Band and the Josh Abbott Band.
Then, in 2011, Tuck was in a car accident. “That ended my days living on a tour bus and traveling with the bands,” he said. “I was careflighted from Stephenville to Harris Methodist in Fort Worth with a shattered pelvis and serious traumatic brain injury. They told me I would never walk again.”
Tuck was determined, though. He worked hard in physical therapy, and was lucky that his injuries healed smoothly. He started out walking around the house with a cane, and then began to walk outside to get the mail. “It took me a while to walk again, but I got back out and did it,” he said. “It was all because of my determination to never quit and the help and faithful devotion from my mother Marilyn Bartee to get me to overcome it.”
Once he was back on his feet, Tuck took a job at BSNF Railway in Forth Worth. He stayed there for a few months, then moved to Meridian and began work as a jailer and then an armed transport officer at the Bosque County Sheriff’s Department.
His stepfather had coached in Meridian in the past, and Tuck had spend two of his high school years at Meridian ISD, so taking the job felt like coming back to an old home.
He started attending Bosque County Cowboy Church in Meridian, where he met his now-wife, Errin D’Lyn Tuck. The Tucks married on January 22 of 2016.
That June, Tuck left his position at the sheriff’s department (although he remained on reserve) and took a job at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant. “It was a better financial move for me and my growing family,” he said. “I love my job as security at the plant. I started at the bottom but have moved my way up through the ranks to become a full time sergeant and assistant security force leader.”
Tuck leads a crew of 35 security officers, and spends his days testing security strategies and conducting drills.
He hopes to stay at the plant for the rest of his career, and has aspirations to move up within the company. Since being at the plant he has bought his first house in Glen Rose, Texas. Tuck and his wife have three children: Trinity, 7, Thomas (who goes by his middle name, Leevi), 5, and Tylin, 10 months. When Tuck gets free time, he’s often taking his children to t-ball or softball practice or golfing.
Tuck’s mother and stepfather Marilyn and Garry Bartee, as well as his father and stepmother Thomas and Tonia Tuck, still live in Dublin. He has one sister, Tamara Tuck Leblanc.
Throughout his life, Tuck has found inspiration in his family, especially his children. “Before I had kids I was living life and doing all these extravagant things, travel and everything like that, but I didn’t know what it would be like to be a father,” he said. “That was it for me.”
His advice to Dublin graduates is to keep a positive, can-do attitude. “Just shoot for the stars and never, never give up,” he said. “Never let anything hold you back. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t. You can fulfill your dreams and do whatever you want to do.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.