Zachary Carter Hust

When Zach was three years old, during the holiday season he saw a family living in their car on his street on Columbus’ Near East Side. He worried that Santa Claus would not be able to find them, so he used his own money to buy toys. At age 16 - ten years before the Supreme Court recognized same-sex marriage as a constitutional right - Zach made national news by leading protests against his public high school’s unconstitutional ban on wearing T-shirts supporting marriage equality. As protests expanded to other central Ohio high schools, Zach enlisted help from the ACLU. “Our principal says that the shirts are disruptive, but the truth is that the only thing that’s been disruptive has been the way the school has reacted to them,” Zach told his ACLU lawyer. “I haven’t heard anyone complain about our support for gay people and their right to marry, but everyone is upset that our school is trampling all over our First Amendment rights.” Ultimately, Dublin Jerome High School lifted its ban and announced, “Some days we teach the kids, and some days they teach us.’’ The victory cemented his belief in the power of politics. Angry over George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, Zach designed WANTED FOR WAR CRIMES posters with Bush’s face, then tacked them up around Dublin. He had a two-word response to critics: “Free speech.” After high school, Zach enrolled in the University of Vermont, where he found a home in a state represented by one of his heroes, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Zach long insisted that Trump’s presidency would have been avoided had only more voters seen the promise of Sanders.

Born Zachary Carter Hust on April 2, 1989, to Sandy Theis, a former Statehouse reporter, and Bob Hust, an attorney in Cincinnati, Zach would later describe his childhood as “idyllic.’’ He grew up on a wooded cul-de-sac in Dublin where some of his childhood friendships extended into adulthood. Zach and the neighborhood kids convinced his family to host a backyard WWE wrestling match. They used plywood and rope to create the ring, then filled it with quilts and sleeping bags. Everybody had a wrestling nickname, and the matches were announced over a portable PA system. The same crew of young carpenters went on to build a sturdy but unsightly three-story tree house, that survived long enough to later serve as a crash pad for squirrels, raccoons and other varmints. In middle school, Zach finally was permitted to participate in a storied family tradition: skeet and target shooting with his uncles, cousins and father on the day after Thanksgiving. Pop bottles and clays were the original targets, but imagination took over and each year the targets grew more elaborate. After the death of Zach’s grandmother, the crew took her assumed-empty oxygen tanks and took aim. When someone hit the tank, it took off like a rocket and sent the shooting party scurrying and howling. Zach loved to repeat that story at family events, and it became more interesting with each retelling. Zach’s interests were many and varied. He loved hiking the tallest mountains, dominating trivia contests, cheering on Buckeye football, dancing to most kinds of music and helping people. He taught toddlers the cheers for his beloved San Francisco 49ers and to boo whenever they see Donald Trump’s face. He recently worked to help former neighbor Mark Sigrist win this year’s primary for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. Before returning to Grove City, the Sigrist family lived on the same Dublin street where Zach grew up. Zach convinced friends and neighbors to display Sigrist yard signs, telling anyone who’d listen (and some who wouldn’t) why the values Sigrist brought to the old Dublin neighborhood were desperately needed at the Ohio Statehouse. Sigrist won the primary by just 20 votes and credits Zach with helping him eke out a victory. In 2010, Zach joined the U.S. Army and was deployed to Afghanistan. He flourished. Zach received an honorable discharge and two commendations, including one for spotting “several million dollars worth of stolen military equipment’’ hidden under tarps. The Army quickly recovered it. His Facebook page showcases his Army pride. One post is a photo of an Army T-shirt that says, “Because no one played Navy as a kid.’’ Many other posts are pictures with his fellow soldiers. Today, his page is dominated by comments such as these from his Army buddies: “From our adventures in the sandbox and post-deployment conversations, you were always a leader and willing to do whatever it took to help those around you;’’ “I would have walked through Valhalla’s Gates with you, brother;” “Life done took its toll. A soldier never dies.” Zach returned home from Afghanistan with an alphabet soup of medical and mental health challenges, including ADHD, TBI, and PTSD, but he still built a successful career in construction. He was respected as an expert in operating concrete pumping trucks on complicated commercial and residential projects. He bought a home and fell in love with a woman who has two wonderful daughters. He spent his life trying to help others, more than trying to help himself.

Zach is survived by his parents; his sister, Abigail Hust (Ryan Lenser) of Gahanna and their daughters; stepmother Vicki Daiello; stepbrother Erik Hammersmith (Amanda Hammersmith) of Lima and their sons; stepsister Anna Hammersmith (Dorian Slaybod) of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who became family. All will miss his giant smile, enormous spirit, and even larger heart.

He is preceded in death by grandparents Helen and Louis Hust, Robert and Mary Lou Theis; Uncles Michael Hust, Jim Downton and Robert “Bobby” Theis; Aunt Nancy “Carla” Conroy; and cousin, U.S. Marine Sgt. Brandon C. Bury.

Arrangements are being handled by Schoedinger Margarum Northeast, 1051 E. Johnstown Road, Gahanna, OH.

The family plans a funeral and celebration of life on Oct. 13, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Creekside Event Center, 101 Mill St., Gahanna. The official program is expected to start at noon.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project and Mental Health America of Ohio.