Colleen Ellen Lantzy

Colleen Ellen Lantzy

May 20, 1951-January 5, 2025

Colleen Ellen Lantzy passed away peacefully, surrounded by the love of her family at home on January 5, 2025. Though we, her family and friends, are monumentally heartbroken by our loss, we are forever grateful to have had this remarkable woman, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and soul friend in our lives. She remarked often that she hoped to be remembered. If that was one of her goals, the job was extraordinarily well done. For all of us in our lives, Colleen is irreplaceable and absolutely unforgettable.

Colleen treasured items that brought beauty, peace, and joy to her life. This written celebration of her life is punctuated by a few sets of words from different books, cards, and letters she had carefully saved.

*"All along you were blooming"

Colleen Ellen Lantzy joined the world on May 20, 1951, the second daughter of William and Patricia Puhl. She grew up in rural West Bloomfield, Michigan with her parents and three sisters, Bridget, Sheila, and Stacy. Her family lived a mile away from their closest neighbors, which allowed the sisters to become best friends as well. They spent their time playing in the nearby woods, climbing (and getting stuck) in trees, and learning to sew. Sewing was just one of many things Colleen learned so well and so passionately.

Colleen was a lifelong learner. As for her formal education, she graduated with her bachelor's from Michigan State, and immediately pursued her Master's degree in Counseling from Western Michigan University. She followed that with two years of post-graduate training specifically in marriage and family therapy. Throughout her career, she constantly strived to learn and explore further, always interested in the latest research, a new methodology, a new insight, or a new way of thinking that may benefit her or her clients. She also achieved a certification in Interior Design, which likely comes as no surprise to anyone who saw the beautiful homes she lived in throughout her life.

She was a highly accomplished psychotherapist, who helped thousands of patients throughout her career. Her clients and colleagues adored her, and her private practice flourished throughout her time in Wisconsin. She also simultaneously balanced work at a clinic focused on weight loss and management, where she worked closely with her colleagues on inaugurating and launching a highly successful wellness program focused on nutrition and balance.

She raised three boys, Bill, PJ, and Brian and was a devoted mother, instilling in each of them the importance of compassion, family, and tradition. From decorating homemade Christmas cookies every year to rigging up elaborate booby traps to prevent them from scrambling out to the toys too fast on Christmas Day, she had a unique way of making things fun and memorable. She was a devout supporter of each of her sons, as they navigated their own journeys and was incredibly proud of each of them. She was also a loving and adored aunt to her nieces and nephews, offering them a listening ear and words of support and advice throughout their lives.

She retired from her dual careers in 2015 to move to Austin where she embarked on a new chapter in her life. Though she describes herself as an introvert, she sought out and found incredible new friendships in her new town, becoming deeply involved in her church, volunteerism at The Wildflower Center, various local social activism events and conferences, and in book clubs with her neighbors. She also was able to devote her time to her grandchildren, whom she called her "heartbeat."

*"Life life as though it was rigged in your favor."

Colleen lived her life with enviable optimism and positivity. Throughout an eight-year illness, we never heard her complain, lament her circumstances, or belabor what was. She had an incredible quiet strength and resolve during the challenging times, and infectious energy and joy during the good times. She would often remark that things were "wonderful!" She could be referring to her energy, her appetite, her latest meal, her new dress, a bird she just saw, a pair of new glasses, her doctors and nurses, the weather, a new recipe, or a movie. She heaped praise on what gave her joy and it always brought a smile to our faces.

She was fiercely loyal, protective, and loving to those she loved. She felt so grateful for her family and friends, and described herself everyday as "blessed." She would often say "I don't know what I did to get this lucky!" But we knew it wasn't luck. Like attracts like, and the good she put in the world came back to her.

*"We are all blessed with the ability to recognize and create joy."

Though Colleen was always deeply creative with a fantastic sense of color and style, she had not yet explored her own calling as an artist until COVID began in 2020. She began taking online art classes, finding artists who inspired her, and began painting, drawing, sketching, and exploring mixed media. What resulted was a trove of whimsical figures, beautiful florals, and textured multi-layered prints. She found great joy in making her art, and spent countless hours at her art table.

Colleen was lovingly renamed Mio by her first grandchild, Penelope. It stuck. She adored her grandchildren and approached each of them with such heartfelt, unconditional love and joy. Mio was known for sneaking the kids juice and cookies with that sly look in her eye, inventing new flavors of ice cream with them, reading to them any time they asked, inventing new games for them to play, planning sleepovers for them, and snuggling each of them for as long as they wanted to be held, no conditions. She was always up for an adventure, was endlessly accepting when they made a mess or caused a commotion, and had a type of patience we had never been exposed to before. When one of her grandchildren was having trouble, she always walked towards them, never away.

She also used her amazing talents to bring her grandchildren so much joy. A master seamstress, she would sew felt pretend food for their kitchen sets. She made hundreds of pieces of food like little asparagus, broccoli, pancakes, butter pieces, pork chops, turkey legs, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes- all one by one by hand. She also hand-sewed custom outfits for her granddaughters' American Girl dolls- each outfit she carefully put in one bag including the doll's shirt, dress or pants, shoes, coat and hair accessories. She thought of what they'd want, what would make them happy, and created just that.

She also quietly and humbly offered her services to organizations for kids in need. After the earthquake in Haiti in 2021, she donated fifteen American Girl dolls and five custom made outfits for each doll to be distributed to children in affected areas. Her compassion and kindness showed no bounds.

*"Untangled all the strings 'round your wings that were tied."

In her final days, her grandchildren all picked songs to play for her as she peacefully and gracefully moved from this world to the next. This quote is a lyric from one of the songs that was played. She told her grandchildren, "I'm going to be your angel now." We were unbelievably blessed to beautifully witness her leave behind the illness that tied her down, and become the literal angel we knew her always to be.

We are comforted that she is now with her loving parents, William Joseph Puhl and Patricia Kelly Puhl, who she is predeceased by. Colleen is survived by her three sons, Bill, Patrick (Aimee), and Brian (Dee Dee), her grandchildren Penelope, Poppy, Julian, Maddox, Vivienne, and Cameron, her three sisters Bridget, Sheila, and Stacy and her many nieces and nephews.

The family will hold a Celebration of Life service for Colleen at First United Methodist Church on Saturday January 25, 2025 at 10:30 with a reception following at the church. Her burial will take place in Brighton, Michigan at St. Patrick's Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, we kindly ask that any donations are sent to The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in her honor.

*The last quote is one she wrote out herself on a piece of paper, carefully placed in a special box in her home. It is a quote from Winnie the Pooh. It heartbreakingly sums up how she felt, and how we feel now.

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

We are so grateful to have had you Colleen, our Mio. As you know, the word Mio means mine. How lucky we were to call you ours. We loved you beyond measure and know that somewhere you are still walking beside us.