Laura Emiko Burns

Laura passed away on September 27, 2016 after a battle with depression and anxiety. She was a gifted artist, a wonderful writer, a marvellous friend, and a loving and beloved daughter. She was wise beyond her years and always thinking about her effect on others. She loved downtown Ann Arbor, the Huron River, music, travel with her family, shopping, museums, and good food. She treasured her friends and had a beautiful skill for making the people in her life feel heard and loved. She self-identified as a feminist and social justice advocate. She enjoyed participating in the Students Educating Each other about Diversity (S.E.E.D.) Program at the Neutral Zone and was on the Best American Nonrequired Reading committee. Laura was born in Santa Rosa, California to Lisa Ann Nakamura and Martin Curtis Burns. Laura lived in Ann Arbor with her stepfather Christian Sandvig and her mother Lisa. She spent her life in college towns and called herself “a professors’ kid.” She attended the Preschool of the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin; Next Generation School and Doctor Howard Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois; and Tappan Middle School, Emerson School, and Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was cared for by the compassionate staff at the Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program at St. Joseph Hospital, the Adolescent Psychiatry Inpatient Unit at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital of the University of Michigan, her therapist, her family, and, always, her friends. She is survived by a half-brother, Weston Burns, of Madison, Wisconsin. In remembrance, donations can be sent to 826michigan (https://www.826michigan.org/), The Neutral Zone (http://neutral-zone.org/), or The Malala Fund (https://www.malala.org/).