Carol Austad, M.D. died of lymphoma with complications on July 4, 2013, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. Her parents, Hugh and Gayle Campbell, and her only sibling, Hugh Thomas Campbell, preceded her in death. She was born in Detroit on May 29, 1944, and grew up in Grand Rapids. She subsequently attended the University of Michigan, where she obtained her Bachelors’ and M.D. degrees. Those studies included a year in France, sponsored by the University of Michigan, at Aix-Marseille. The day after medical school graduation in 1969 she married her classmate, Eric David Austad, M.D. He survives. In 1981 their only child was born: Nissa Kristine Austad-Reichenbach. With her husband, Drew Reichenbach, Eric and Carol were made the proud grandparents of beautiful twins, Iain and Anika, in 2010.
Dr. Austad completed her residencies in both Child and Adult Psychiatry at the University of Michigan in 1974, and worked and taught there for several years after completing her training. She subsequently completed training in both Adult and Child psychoanalysis at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. While she continued an active clinical practice throughout her life, a primary focus was upon the importance of early childhood development. She was a founding member of the Board of the Allen Creek Preschool in Ann Arbor, which began in the donated space of a local Episcopal church and grew to become a freestanding and award-winning center for understanding and improving the parent-child relationship. She continued her role as voluntary medical director and weekly consultant there until her death.
Carol was an accomplished equestrian, a love she developed as an adolescent and maintained throughout her life. In those early days she would somehow find a ride to one of several equine centers near Grand Rapids, where she would “hot walk” polo ponies for a quarter apiece or groom horses for the simple pleasure of riding and being near them. She also loved gardening and her home in one of the wooded areas of Ann Arbor led her to expertise in hostas and other shade-loving plants. As one of her former psychiatry chairmen observed, she was very adept at finding “ponies” under “piles of (manure)”.
Dr. Austad was an active and contributing member of the Psychoanalytic community, both locally and nationally, and she will be greatly missed by her friends, colleagues, and patients. She leaves behind a loving family and a legacy of humor, generosity, and hope for the future.
A private funeral ceremony was held for the family at the First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, where Eric and Carol were married forty-four years ago. "A memorial service for Carol Austad, M.D., who died on July 4, 2013, will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1432 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, at 7 PM on September 16, 2013. All friends and colleagues are invited".
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any gifts be made “In Memory of Carol Austad” to:
Allen Creek Preschool
2350 Miller Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI. 48103
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