One of the good things that Renee and I decided pretty early on was that we were going to focus on trying to help the students at Tech heal by engaging them in the same sorts of service activities that Austin found meaningful." "Your future kind of goes away when your kids go away. "I don't think I can say one particular thing," he said. When asked what he misses most about his daughter, Bryan Cloyd replied, "Everything." The next day, it was actually confirmed." Remembering Austin "Somewhere in that foggy aftermath, we sort of began to lose hope. "We sort of hoped, 'That's where we'll find Austin,'" Bryan Cloyd said. The two parents went to a nearby hotel where families looking for loved ones were instructed to go. He and his wife called Austin on her cellphone, but she wasn't answering, Bryan Cloyd recalled. On April 16, Bryan Cloyd was in his office preparing for his class the next day when he heard news of the shooting and lockdown on campus. In 2007, Bryan Cloyd worked as an accounting professor teaching at Virginia Tech. I don't recall lots of things but I do recall hiking back up a few weeks later and a butterfly was there, sort of following me up." That was the last time the three of us were together. we were a couple of weeks into that when Austin, my son and I hiked up the road. "We had been building a home on the mountain and we had to build a road to the home. "The last day I spent with her, it was the Friday before ," he added. a good heart, and was pursuing things that had a lot of value to society. A very, highly motivated intelligent person and I think well-balanced too. "She was active and involved in sports and clubs at school and service projects outside of the school. It was almost like she knew she wasn’t going to have enough of it.” She managed her time well, so she could play hard and study hard.
“You would never know, she was so humble," Austin's mom, Renee Cloyd, told ABC News recently.
I think that helps everyone in the process of grief and recovery." Austin CloydĪustin Cloyd, an international relations and French major, was two weeks shy of her 19th birthday when she died in her room 211 French class in Virginia Tech's Norris Hall.Īustin was an A-student, a children's lifeguard, an officer in the International Relations Organization, an active participant in model United Nations conferences and passionate about social justice issues. "For some it was advocacy, for others it was education programs, others it was memorials and scholarships and a legacy. "I think what a better definition of who we are is what we choose to do after - how we remember, how we choose to learn and how we go forward," he added. We as individuals don't need to be defined by those uncontrollable events. "I would've done everything I could've to not be in that classroom that day, but life gives you the cards and you have to do something with them. "I met a great woman and had a family through this tragedy," Goddard said.