Dear Friends,

A few days ago I sent out an update on behalf of my parents, Dick and Kathy Seymour, regarding my brother Jeff. Two weeks ago he took his own life—a result of a deep struggle with depression.

Below is the obituary that I wrote in honor of Jeff. Knowing that many of you loved him, we thought you may like to read it.

Once in a lifetime. That’s Jeff Truitt. Those of us who knew him well know that we’ll never know another like him. That’s how he left this world, and that’s how he came into it.

Born Jeffrey Truitt Seymour on October 25, 1985 to Dick and Kathy Seymour, he was a gift. There’s no way to describe the hope that a baby’s cry brings to the hearts of parents who thought they’d never hear it. The scope of the gift they received that day continues to grow, and they will never stop thanking God for it.

Almost immediately, his exceptional intelligence and creativity were obvious. As his sister, I can attest to the precision that refused to let me sing along to a song that was already perfect. I know the creativity that could see a forever-home on a street where the homeless slept in the trees.

When you met him for the first time, these were the qualities you talked about afterward. The longer you knew him—if Jeff chose you for that privilege—you began to see his core. Honesty. Loyalty. Generosity. Love. What started in the boy who left recorded love notes for his kid sister, stayed with the college kid who sent his mom potted roses on Valentine’s Day. He was still guided by that inner voice as the man secretly paying rent for friends who couldn’t keep their lights on.

The best of his friends has said that Jeff “curated his life.” Whether he was choosing a dinner fork, a guitar, or a life partner, he wanted the best. Perhaps that’s the reason he loved only one. On the list of Jeff’s collection of “bests” her name is at the top. Rachel was the love of his life, the one who made his eyes smile, the one he trusted to love him completely. Love him she does, truly and deeply, forever and always.

Although anything but conventional in the way he expressed it, Jeff loved more deeply than most of us ever will. To be chosen by Jeff—to be drawn into his circle and allowed to live life beside him—was an honor that we cherished. Once you got to be one of his people, he never forgot about you, always took care of you, never discarded you, and in his own unique way, always kept loving you. Each of us has a story, a conversation, a memory we cling to in which, however unconventionally, Jeff loved us.

We’ve tried to describe the impact he made, and the corresponding emptiness that we feel in his absence. Connected by the love he gifted to us, we’ve tried to honor him in the best way we know how. But there’s no way to capture the span of his life, nor the lives that were changed because of it.

In the quiet moments, when words fall short, we know one thing: he was once in a lifetime. He was Jeff Truitt.

Survived by his parents, Dick and Kathy, his sister Stephanie (Seymour) Cochrane, and his beloved wife Rachel. Jeff passed away in his sleep on Monday, April 11, 2016.

Thank you again for all of the prayers and comforting words you have said on our behalf. We praise God that Jeff is in Heaven, and we look to Him for strength and healing during this time.

With His peace,
-Stephanie Cochrane