Byron Christopher Austin

Byron "Bryan" Austin was born on October 7, 1985, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Joyce Austin and Thermal Propps. At a young age, Byron accepted Christ into his life and carried his faith with him throughout his journey.

Bryan wasn't just a veteran. He wasn't just a name, or a date, or even just our loved one. He was a kid once- a kid who wanted to be a lawyer. He loved ideas, arguments, and politics....and those Dan Brown books where every mystery had an answer if you kept looking hard enough. He believed life worked like that, too- that if you kept searching long enough, things would eventually make sense, but life didn't give him easy chapters. His childhood moved between homes, families, and foster care. Stability was something other kids grew up with- he had to build it inside himself. He learned early on how to be alone, and sometimes that aloneness was peace....and sometimes it was the heaviest thing he carried. Then he went to war. He was an 88M in Iraq- a truck driver- which sounds ordinary until you understand those roads were some of the most dangerous places in the world. Every mile asked a question you didn't know if you'd live long enough to answer and he saw things there that no person ever really comes home from unchanged. Some wars end when you leave the battlefield and some follow you for the rest of your life.

We don't believe people always saw how much he was carrying but carrying weight was something he'd been doing since he was young- long before the Army, long before the desert, long before any of us knew how to help but sometimes, no matter how strong you are, you still want to sit next to your mother and tell her how tired you are...how life keeps being unfair and difficult and now, like life sometimes does, we're facing another trial- another tragedy.

Bryan was thoughtful, complicated, searching....a person trying to find a place where his mind could finally be quiet. There's a quote that says, "A place where somebody is thinking of you is a place called home." Bryan spent a lot of his life searching for that place. So, we want him to know now you don't have to search anymore. Our hearts will forever be your home. The Bible says in Matthew 11:28, " Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest." Bryan has gone to rest. No more noise, no more memories to outrun. No more carrying things alone. Just rest. We'll carry you now. We love you and wherever you are, I hope you finally got your answer. We ask everyone here- family, friends, and even strangers- to help give Bryan peace in death, since peace was often hard to find in life. Let's leave behind speculation, blame, and "what ifs" and allow him the peace he was always searching for.

Byron was preceded in death by his maternal grandmother, Herlon Stigger; his godmother, Linda Lewis; his aunt, Sherry Austin; and his uncle, Timothy Austin.

He leaves to cherish his loving memory his mother, Joyce Austin of Stuttgart; his father, Thermal Propps; siblings Terether Austin of Chicago, IL: Maurice Murphy of Little Rock, AR, Anthony (Shaqunna) Austin of Fort Stewart, GA, Clarissa Propps, and September Propps of Stuttgart, AR ; along with a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews who will forever hold him close in their hearts.