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 "Can't
you see we've got a situation here?!".~~One of Ned's memorable lines from the
film Maximum Overdrive, that applies more today than ever.
Loving husband and father to his wife Bobbie Austin; three sons, David
Austin and wife, Perri, of Graham, Robin Austin of Boone, and Sam Austin and
partner, Barry Fecarotta, of Roanoke, Va.; three daughters, Frances Austin and
husband, Rob Crutchfield, of Hagerstown, Md., Genevieve Austin of Boone and
Laura Bryant and husband, Tom, of Summerville, Ga.; two sisters, Ella Beshears
of Elkin and Daisy Adams of Boone. Ten grandchildren and numerous nieces,
nephews and cousins also survive.
He was born April 29, 1925 in Boone, a son of Samuel Monroe and Minnie
Belle Payne Austin.
Mr. Austin was a member of the Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. He
served in the U.S. Army during World War II where he was held as a prisoner of
war in Germany. After returning to the United States he attended college on the
G.I. Bill, majoring in drama at Denver University and studied drama at the
Berghof School in New York City under Uta Hagan and later had a directing class
with Lee Strasberg. Mr. Austin acted in television and theatre productions, as
well as a number of films in New York, Colorado and North Carolina over a period
of 50 years. Boone audiences remember him as Willie Loman in “Death of a
Salesman”, Drummond in “Inherit the Wind”, Alfred P. Dolittle in “My Fair Lady”
or as the first portrayer of Daniel Boone in the local drama, Horn in the West.
In July, 1997, the Town of Boone acknowledged his contribution to theatre with
the presentation of a bronze star with his name on it which stands on East King
Street near the Dixie Barber Shop where he barbered for 20 years. He was a
member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Read more about Ned Austin at
Wikipedia and
The
Watauga Democrat,
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