Matthew Colin Auslander

1974 - 2024

Matthew Colin Auslander

February 25, 1974 - November 19, 2024

Matthew Colin Auslander died Nov. 19 in Amarillo, Texas after a lengthy battle with mental illness. He was 50.

Born Feb. 25, 1974 in Tucson, Arizona, Matt moved to Omaha, Nebraska with his mother and brother in January 1982. He attended Druid Hill Elementary, Lewis and Clark Junior High School and graduated from Central High School in 1992. Matt later attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Matthew was a gifted athlete, playing soccer as a youngster in Tucson and, later, baseball in Omaha little leagues and for Central High School. He also played a mean guitar, wrote funny, witty, oddball short stories and was wicked smart with a mischievous sense of humor and a bright future in front of him.

During his senior year in college, Matt began to hear voices and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. So began a long and tortured downward spiral that tore him away from all of his friends and most of his family, and led him to drift from Tucson to Colorado Springs to Oklahoma City to El Paso and, finally, to Amarillo.

Matt's resistance to treatment coupled with the cruel, diabolical miseries schizophrenia inflicts upon its victims proved to be a lethal combination that he could not successfully fight. We hope Matt has finally found the peace he deserves.

Matt's life would have been exponentially more difficult if not for the efforts of his mother, Martha. She made sure he never slept on the streets or went hungry, and that he always had warm clothes and a phone. Her efforts were nothing short of heroic.

Matthew is survived by his mother, Martha Clifford Auslander, older brother, Jason Auslander, stepbrother Gene Armstrong, stepsisters M.E. Armstrong and Anne Pagel, as well as his father, aunts and cousins.