Miss. Olivia Nicole Deffner

It is with the heaviest heart that we share the loss of Olivia Nicole Deffner on September 10, 2017. We know that she is in our Heavenly Father's hands now experiencing His peace and perfection. Olivia was born on October 2, 1992, at the Charleston Naval Hospital, Charleston, South Carolina. Her father's military career took Olivia to South Carolina, Indiana, Maryland (twice), Texas, and Japan before the family settled in San Antonio in 2007. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ronald Reagan High School in 2011 where she was a member of the National Honor Society and the Debate Team. Olivia graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Marketing from UT Dallas in 2015. While at UT Dallas, she was a member of AIESEC, the world's largest non-profit youth-run organization that provides young people with leadership development and cross-cultural global internship and volunteer exchange experiences. After graduation, she visited Australia with the Business Honors Program before embarking on a successful career as a Digital Marketing Manager with Texas Instruments in Dallas. Her Uncle Jon said it perfectly; "she represented everything we all hope our kids will become." Olivia's passion for travel and experiencing all life has to offer, led her to fearlessly embark on travels across the globe, seeing parts of the world that many of us only read about in books. She studied abroad in Austria and visited Hungary, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Thailand, China, Canada and Australia. Her travel blog's slogan was "Wherever you go, go with all your heart." Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Olivia embodied Twain's ideals of open-mindedness and broad, wholesome and charitable views of others. She made friends with everyone she met and would often walk up to total strangers, extend her hand and say "Hi, I'm Olivia Deffner." She made friends easily and her life was a diverse mosaic of people who she loved and cherished. She loved all of God's creations. Olivia began riding horses in Japan and enjoyed riding a horse named Al. She continued riding in Texas and was particularly fond of a large draft horse named Buddy. Olivia adopted and loved a 9-year-old cat named Neko and she also volunteered with a Dallas animal shelter. Olivia loved Dallas and enjoyed the arts, professional sports and all Dallas had to offer. She was also an enthusiastic Cowboys and Spurs fan. Olivia is survived by her loving parents Christine and Hans Deffner and younger brother Hans, of San Antonio. She is also survived by a large extended family and numerous loving friends. She was preceded in death by her paternal great grandmother, Hermine Deffner, of Aschaffenburg, Germany, and her maternal grandfather, James McLeod, of Tampa, Fla. MEMORIAL SERVICE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 3:00 PM CROSSBRIDGE COMMUNITY CHURCH 25700 OVERLOOK PKWY, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78260 In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to: Texas Animal Defense League (https://adltexas.org/donate/tributes-bequests/) or Olivia Deffner Memorial at Crossbridge Community Church (https://crossbridgecommunitychurch.securegive.com/SG/WebOnline/Transaction/Instant?transactionType=Donation)