Biography

Sara Lyn Sutz
5/6/77 - 8/25/08

Sara fought valiantly against liver cancer. She passed from this existence on Monday, August 25th, 2008. Over 100 of her family and friends gathered on the 30th at her home for a memorial. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Aidan's college fund located on this site.
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Proud parents Ian and Lyn Sutz brought their second daughter, Sara Lyn, into the world at Horton Hospital in Middletown, NY, on May 5, 1977. Ian and Lyn took Sara home to Bloomingburg where she joined big sister Rachel.

Sara's lifelong love of cats began earlier. As a child, she always seemed to have a cat in her arms or nearby. While she was in elementary school, the family cat chose the space underneath Sara's bed to have her litter of kittens.

During elementary school, Sara became involved in scouting and was an active badge earner in her Brownie troop. She also developed an interest in music and became part of the school chorus. Additionally, Sara learned to play the recorder and the piano.

In middle school, Sara developed an interest in sports and distinguished herself on the softball field as a catcher. She also became involved in Future Business Leaders of America. Sara served in a leadership role and represented South Sumter High School at numerous district competitions.

Sara parlayed her aptitude for business into a leadership role in her parents family business. From 1992 to 1995, Sara assisted her father in managing the Tropic Theater and Lyn's Leesburg Inn. She also helped her grandmother manage the family's cinema pub.

In 1997, Sara was accepted into the Americorps program and was assigned to Denver, Colorado. During her tenure in Americorps, Sara worked with the Aids Reliance Association, the Colorado AIDS Project, Denver County YMCA, and the Grand Forks, North Dakota YMCA. She also served as a disaster services volunteer with Lutheran Services in North Dakota, coordinated the AIDS Quilt Tour exhibition in Denver, and also worked as a mountain ranger at Red Rocks.

After her year in Americorps, Sara joined her sister Rachel in Tallahassee where she enrolled in Tallahassee Community College. She also obtained a management position at Golden Eagle Country Club.

In 1999, Sara also began working for Refuge House, an organization devoted to ending violence against women. She served as a paid shelter advocate, a volunteer Sexual Assault Response Team member, and later became the paid housing superintendent. In 2002, Sara was promoted to a case manager position.

Sara continued to attend TCC and accrued several honors between 2001 and 2003. In 2000, Sara served on the Eyrie Literary Magazine staff as an editor and event coordinator. In 2001, Sara's edition of the Eyrie was recognized as the top literary art magazine in the state of Florida by the Florida Community College Activities Association Publications Division. Sara represented Tallahassee Community College at the awards ceremony in Orlando, Florida.

During the summer of 2002, Sara represented TCC at a Feminist Foundation seminar in Washington, DC. That same year, Sara worked on research focused on Transforming Social Norms on the College Campus. She presented her research at the Women Extinguishing Barriers Conference at Florida State University and the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence Annual Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In 2002, Tallahassee Community College recognized Sara as the Collegiate Humanitarian of the year for her work on behalf of AIDS victims and victims of domestic violence. In 2003, Sara was recognized during Women's History Month at Tallahassee Community College as a Woman Pioneering the Future in Our Community. That same year, Sara was recognized by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women as an Outstanding Emerging Woman Leader.

Sara gave birth to her son Aidan on October 14, 1993. At that time, she was working as a Public Assistance Specialist for the Department of Children and Families in Tallahassee. She was also serving as a disaster response volunteer with the American Red Cross.

She continued her volunteer involvement with the Red Cross when she moved back to Bushnell in 2004. Sara became a certified CPR instructor with Red Cross and also served as a shelter manager during several hurricanes. When tornadoes ravaged a nearby community, Sara was part of the response team providing food and water.

In 2005, Sara again began working for the Department of Children and Families, this time in Wildwood, Florida as an Economic Self-Sufficiency Specialist. During her tenure with DCF in Wildwood, Sara was recognized for her hard work with numerous honors: Innovating for Excellence High Performance, Quality Control Benefit Accuracy, the Davis Productivity Award, and Benefit Recovery Savings. She also represented her department at the Leadership for High Performance Conference in 2006.

During the last eight months of her life, Sara took great pleasure in spending time with her son Aidan and her three cats: Booka, Zevon, and Kay. She spent time with family and friends, including making trips to Tallahassee and New York. In April 2008, Sara and her son Aidan took a special trip to Sea World with Sara's sister, Aidan's Aunt Rachel. Aidan and Aunt Rachel remember that day fondly and look forward to remembering Sara together on future trips to the Orlando theme park.

Sara was a devoted Mother, loving Daughter, talented in writing, videography, photography, computer tech, teacher, volunteer, verbal wit and humor, and women's advocate, yet still a child herself.

Sara will always be loved and remembered by her surviving family members: mom and dad Lyn and Ian Sutz; grandmother Eleanor "Ahme" Garrison; sister Rachel and brother-in-law David Pienta; son Aidan; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.