A Tribute to Austin Lutz

Oh, Austin, too soon, you leave us much too soon. Too young and so promising and so much life left undone. We are not ready.

You amaze us with your ability to assemble pieces of science, medical art, seemingly unconnected facts, into a story that made sense, a preliminary diagnosis, the next question that illuminated.

You are an old soul from youth, mature and wise beyond your years.

When Colleen, Jimmy, Doug, Jordan, Dakota, Jada or grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews ask a question, you take it as one that should be answered in detail; a short definition or medical term is not quite enough because there are differences to be explained, gaps to be closed. No condescending, short answer here; if the question is important then your response treats it with dignity, care and thoughtfulness.

You meet Jada and Dakota the same way. You teach them, always willing to answer their questions and help them in any way you can. You look over your three siblings. Oh how you love them. They know it and you do too. There is no replacement for you; you are worshiped for doing what came so naturally to you; we do not know anyone else quite like you.

You are the tripping little brother to tease and deflect and awkwardly hug that Jennifer and Emily never had. You are the classmate and reliable colleague who seems always to have the schedule or plan; we like to say that Austin does not miss much because you do not.

Oh, how we will miss seeing you grow in your profession, in your gift of healing and caring. How we would love to see you a resident in cardiology or internal medicine or whatever door time and good fortune opens for you; you earned it and deserve it. We have such plans for you, plans that we told to you and some that we would tell to you.

We do not understand why you are so tragically gone from us. We want you and love you and miss you so dearly. Our pain is great but our memories are long. As the calendar turns over from months to years, stories of Austin will be told, stories of boot-skating on the frozen Piedra River, of climbing electrified fences trying to find our way home, of getting lost without a phone at the San Francisco airport when meeting Grandma, of the hot tub scene with Katie in West Virginia, of the cat Simba, of introducing generations of Smiths and Lutzes to dubstep, scrubbing and attending in surgery in Nicaragua before you were even admitted medical school, of being ER scribe at INNOVA when Jordan explored a backflip off a skateboard, playing soldier or paint ball in the woods with Jordan, building so many things with Doug, fun times at Lake Anna. We will laugh and shed a tear and then gather to laugh again. What joy you have given us and that joy we will hold until we meet again.

Family and friends are invited to gather on Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 12:00 pm at Colonial Funeral Home, 201 Edwards Ferry Road NE, Leesburg, Virginia.