x
Breaking News
More () »

'I know they're together': Mother loses son in UT stabbing, spouse to fatal illness

A Central Texas mother is slowly finding peace after the stabbing death of her son on the University of Texas campus and the death of her husband shortly after.

When she wants to feel closer to her son, Lori Brown looks out the window at the elementary school where she teaches. In the distance, there is a tree planted in his honor.

"The tree makes me happy," she says. "The tree represents life to me."

Or she visits Graham High School, where there is a memorial to him in the theater department and a bench out of his honor.

PHOTOS: Harrison Brown, victim in deadly UT stabbing

"Every time I see his name, 'In memory of Harrison Brown' it really, you know, makes it real," Lori says.

Nine months ago, her son, 19-year-old Harrison Brown, was fatally stabbed at the University of Texas as he was completing his freshman year.

Police said Harrison Brown died in a stabbing spree on UT campus.

The music major was one of four students who police say were randomly attacked by fellow student Kendrex White, who remains in the Travis County Jail, on May 1.

The other three students who were stabbed survived.

Five weeks later, Lori Brown's husband of nearly 30 years died from ALS.

"I can't lie," she says. "There are times when I don't want to get out of bed. I have good days and I have bad days. I have good moments, and I have bad moments."

Shortly after Lori Brown's son was fatally stabbed on UT campus, her husband died due to an illness.

Already preparing to say goodbye to her husband of nearly 30 years, Lori, 55, recalls her last conversation with her younger of two sons.

She was alone in her classroom at Woodland Elementary in the North Texas town west of Fort Worth when he called to say that he had just finished working out at Gregory Gym and was on his way to get lunch. He had a 2 p.m. class.

Minutes later, her phone rang again. The voice on the other end wasn't her son but was instead a woman.

"She said 'Are you Harrison's mom?' and I knew immediately my heart fell to the floor, that this was not going to be a good phone call," she recalled.

The woman told her that Harrison had been stabbed and was bleeding.

Lori ran down the hallway and soon rushed home to tell her husband, who had lost the ability to speak, that their son was badly hurt.

RELATED|

'Harrison was determined to not let anything stop him' | Memorial held for slain UT student

Students, family remember man passionate about music who loved being a Longhorn

6 months after deadly UT stabbing, friends, family remember Harrison Brown

A family in Graham owns a private plane and offered to fly her to Austin.

"I was like how can this be happening," she remembers thinking to herself. "This can't be happening. Harrison has to be OK. I can't do this."

She arrived in Austin to find out her son did not survive.

In October 2015, doctors had diagnosed Kurt Brown with ALS. They gave him two years to live, five max.

Over the next few months together -- Lori Brown did her best to keep the family together.

The four of them, including Harrison's older brother John, traveled to Austin to help move Harrison into his dorm.

Over two semesters, the two developed a routine in which he called her each afternoon to check in, as he had done the day he died.

Over the next few weeks after her son's death, Lori's husband continued to worsen.

On June 5, hospice nurses told her that he likely wouldn't make it through the day.

"Through the whole thing my husband and I had this thing where we would hold hands and squeeze, 'I love you,'" she said. "Through the whole thing, I would do that and he would do it back to me, and I could feel his strength getting weaker and weaker and weaker right up until the very end."

The past few months, Lori Brown has tried to make it the best way she can.

She's moved into a new home -- and has gone back to work.

She finds comfort with other mothers in her small town who have a sense of her pain.

"There is a handful of people, here in Graham, who have lost a child, and it's pretty shocking," she said. "So we are almost like a club. You don't want to be part of that club."

When she feels consumed by tragedy and loss, Lori said she thinks about what her husband and son would want for her.

"I know they are together," she said. "I feel like Kurt and Harrison would want me to move forward and be happy and live life."

MORE|

Deadly stabbing on UT campus: What we know so far

UT a cappella group celebrate Harrison Brown's life at concert

Affidavit: UT stabbing suspect did not remember attack

'He was so calm I almost didn't realize an attack was happening'

Before You Leave, Check This Out