North Dakota National Guardsman's Family Talks About Suicide

For Tom: After losing soldier son to suicide, family seeks to dispel stigmas
Jamestown Sun
By Ryan Johnson
Sep 22, 2014

Dave Lautt and Beth Doyle-Lautt reminisce about their son, Spc. Thomas Avery Doyle, from their home in Jamestown. David Samson / Forum News Service

JAMESTOWN — Beth Doyle-Lautt has gotten used to the clutter in her house.

A basement room is filled with boxes and totes, tools and extra furniture.

The shed her husband, Dave Lautt, bought to store his new Harley-Davidson in last year is too full for the motorcycle, which now stands in the garage that doesn’t have room for their pickup.

"It’s too soon to get rid of anything and too soon to even go through it yet," he said. "We will; we’ll get there. It’s just on our terms."

Since Sept. 7, 2013, it’s been easier to keep busy than dwell on the loss they suffered that day when their son, Thomas Avery Doyle, a specialist in the North Dakota National Guard who served in Kuwait, died by suicide at the age of 22.

The couple have since worked to break through the stigma surrounding mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder within the military and the world at large — something they believe contributed to their son’s suffering and eventual death.
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