Mason Ross Lussow

Mason Ross Lussow was born on August 10, 1998 at 1:56 PM, exactly four minutes before the time his mother, Rita, had determined was as long as she could hold out without painkillers. He came home to a family consisting of his mother, his father, Alex and a two year old sister, Monty. At first, home was a two bedroom apartment on Roble Ave in Menlo Park. Six months later the family moved to the house on Ernestine Lane in Mountain View where Mason lived until he was eight.

Mason was a normal, happy baby, notable only for the rapidity with which he filled out, doubling his weight in two, rather than the more typical six months and going from rather starved looking to quite roly-poly. As he grew older, Mason started going to Tia Nolvia’s daycare where he was known as Guapo (handsome), for his chubby good looks. He adored his older sister and the two of them were often cuddling and playing together.

When Mason was three his brother Rourke (Rory) was born. Around that time he met his first best friend, Malcolm Lennie, when the two of them went to pee in the back of a parking lot at Stephen’s Creek Park and became “Parking Lot Pals” forever. A year or so later, the Wilson’s moved in across the street and Mason met his second best friend, Tahvo Wilson. Mason, his sister Monty and Tahvo hung out together and played happily on Ernestine lane and in the  playroom.

During this time Mason went with his siblings and the Lennie’s on Dad’s trips to Lake Tulloch canoeing on Stephen’s creek reservoir, camped with the Brown-Bourne’s and the Lennie’s and hung out at Heritage Oaks Park on the way home from school.

Tahvo accompanied Mason when they started school at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Mason was in Teacher David’s class, where his sister had been two years before. It was around then that Mason started to show his rebellious streak, hiding in the bushes before school and attempting to run off. He liked dinosaurs, trains and weapons of every sort.

For second grade, Mason moved with his family to North Vancouver BC where he attended the Vancouver Waldorf School. Brian Gohlke was his class teacher. His friends were Maxim, Lukas, Nick, Jordon, Kyle and Riley. He loved the Harry Potter books and he and his sister would play “Quidditch” on the trampoline, pretending to be Fred and George. He went on family camping trips to Hornby Island and spent hours in the garage making weapons out of duct tape, pvc pipe and wood. He enjoyed reading fantasy novels like Eragon. When he was twelve, he discovered video games and for many years they absorbed much of his attention. 

In his second year of high school his parents divorced and the family moved to Tucson where Mason attended the Sonoran Science Academy. His best friends were Ayal and Pham. 

After high school Mason went to school at Concordia College in Montreal but dropped out after one semester and returned home to Tucson where he joined the United States Marine corps as a welder. He was stationed in Twenty-nine Palms California and served two six month stints at the Marine base in Okinawa Japan. He received a Naval Commendation Medal for his work in Japan repairing the latches on 400 amphibious vehicles. He loved the brotherhood of the Marine corps but hated all the bs that made life as a soldier so unnecessarily hard. I wish I knew the names of all his fellow soldiers that he was close too. His roommate was one of them. I know he kept you all in his heart. Please reach out to me if you see this.

After the Marine Corps, Mason went home to Tucson again. Around this time his niece, Uusi was born and he travelled to Vancouver to help his sister and her husband take care of the new baby, shopping and cooking and taking her for walks in her carrier. 

Mason went to lineman school at the Southeast Lineman Training Center in Trenton, Georgia. Again he loved his roommates and classmates and liked the work and was good at it. After graduating, he was able to land a coveted position as a groundsman with Capital Electric in Kansas. The job required a lot of moving around so he was living alone in hotel rooms and in a different town every few weeks. He had his dream job and was making lots of money but it was lonely and hard and he wasn’t making friends at work like he hoped. After four months, he quit and went back to Tucson where he applied himself to become a member of the Tucson firefighters. He made the end of the short list and then had an agonizing wait before he learned that he wouldn’t be hired this year after all.

It’s a truism that only the good die young but it was true of Mason. He was the best person I’ve known, the most honest, self aware, compassionate and courageous. He was incredibly sensitive but was always pushing past his fears to accomplish whatever it was he had set out to do. At once the most maddeningly fussy person about his clothes and the person who would uncomplainingly burrow down in the sand for the night when the truck carrying his gear drove off unexpectedly.

He loved his friends and longed to be part of a brotherhood, whether it was the Marines, the electrical workers union or the firefighters. He couldn’t help but see everyone’s story with his compassionate eyes. Sometimes it seemed like he collected heartbreaking stories to share with me but it was only to his eyes that the truth of people was seen.

To his family, he was the classic middle child, the calm steady one who rarely complained or asked for things. But when he did complain, he would really bring everything to a crashing halt. He must have longed to kick up a fuss about everything, he was that sensitive. But mostly he tried his best not to cause anyone else trouble.

He was a quiet, gentle soul with a loving heart who adored his little niece Uusi, his siblings and his parents and was adored by them in return. He will be sorely missed.

Mason committed suicide on August 26th leaving the people who loved him devastated and bewildered. He is survived in great sorrow by his father Alex, mother Ari (Rita), brother Rourke (Rory), sister Monty and niece Uusi. 

May he rest in peace.