March 6, 1998 – September 30, 2024
Katie Deanna Huntzinger
A vibrant Aggie with an ardent passion for animals
From Tucson, Arizona to College Station, Katie Huntzinger’s love for animals and those around her spanned far and wide. An aspiring veterinarian, her interest in serving and giving back began as a child. After her mother signed her up for trail riding lessons one summer, her passion only grew.
“She just automatically fell in love with that,” her father, Mark Huntzinger, said. “It was about the second weekend of the summer camp, the owner of this ranch pulled me aside. She said, ‘Mark, I think you’ve got problems because I only have to tell Katie something once or show her something once, like, how to saddle a horse, how to do a cinch, and I never had to show her again.’ You know, and she just took to it like a duck to water.”
Katie immersed herself in the veterinarian life soon after. She worked hard, volunteered, was an undergraduate researcher and veterinary care student volunteer for the Wild Horse Inmate Program for a few years, and eventually graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona with a veterinary science degree and minor in biochemistry.
She headed east for her doctorate and knew she wanted to be an Aggie after visiting College Station. In her third year at A&M, Katie was studying veterinary medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. With her family back in Arizona, their road trips together between College Station and Tucson were relished.
“We just had such a wonderful time,” Mark said. “We could talk for four or five hours straight, or we could go four or five hours straight without saying a word. It’s just being with her. Because we had such a tight bond.”
A loving dog mom to a mini Australian Shepherd, Cheyenne, and a voracious reader, Katie was humorous, caring and compassionate. She enjoyed family time and music ranging from the classic rock introduced to her by her parents to her own everyday tunes. She also loved fast cars, speedboats and horsepower — on and off land.
“She loved spending time on the water, going on vacations with us because she’s our only daughter,” Mark said. “We got a late start. I was 45, and her mom was 42 when she was born. So she was a miracle to begin with.”
Although she was the first Aggie in her family, Mark said they all became Aggies the day she was accepted. They’ve had an A&M flag flying in the yard since day one, and he said it’s never coming down.
Katie’s parents will soon be creating a scholarship in her name through the college of veterinary medicine with a focus on mental health and suicide awareness.
“People need to know, especially you college students,” Mark said. “Suicide is such a painful, permanent solution to a very temporary problem. If you need help, get help.”
Mark says there’s always help out there and to please reach out if you need it. For the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call 998.
“She had achieved so much and touched so many lives,” Mark said.
