Mardi Peaster
I would describe Douglas Redlin as one of the smartest, most sarcastic, funny, witty, artistic, gently, caring and passionate man that I ever met. I am thankful that I was so lucky to be his mom.He was born on July 16, 1984 weighing in at a whopping 12 pounds 2 ounces and 24 inches long! He had some early problems and was put in the NICU where he was too big to fit into the isolettes! He died from an undiagnosed heart defect on May 12, 2012. Even though he was born in San Antonio Texas and died in Harker Heights Texas, Douglas never considered himself a Texan.
As a 5th generation Army Brat, home was wherever we happened to be and you could really claim anywhere as “home”. Douglas believed that his home was Washington State, where he grew up from age 4 to age 10. Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners were his teams. He never wore a jersey out of season. Even though he loved the Seahawks more than any other team, we buried him in a Mariners jersey because it was baseball season when he died. A Seahawks jersey lies beneath him, so he will always be in season.
His sense of humor and unique way of seeing the world showed itself early. At age 4 we heard a small voice from the back seat say “must have good donuts” as we passed a donut shop parking lot full of police vehicles. He always called himself Douglas until after the first day of Kindergarten. He came home and said “My name is Doug now”. Turned out he had trouble writing an “s” so he took care of that issue! He called car tracks in the snow “car prints” because he already knew about foot prints. He was never cold, and hated long sleeved shirts. He only wanted “up sleeve” shirts.
Douglas was in his first year of teaching history and coaching football at a middle school. Douglas put everything into reaching the kids. An amazing artist, Douglas would draw detailed masterpieces on the dry erase board to go along with each week’s lessons. Many parents and students came up to me at the viewing and funeral to tell me how my son Coach Redlin, had a positive influence on their child or themselves. Hearing those words about how he helped the next generation provided great comfort to me as I grieved and continue to grieve his death.
