Newport News couple who helped start the Peninsula’s Habitat for Humanity die in a car accident

Years ago, Edward Austin pulled his wife, Lorraine Austin, aside.

Ed was an aerospace engineer for Army helicopter research and development activity at Fort Eustis.

“Why don’t I earn a regular income and you save the world,” he said.

And she did, becoming the founder and later executive director of the Peninsula’s Habitat for Humanity chapter.

“She was a force of nature that swept us,” close friend Catherine Taylor said.

Lorraine, 73, and Ed, 76, did everything together. They volunteered together. They went to church together. They raised a family together.

On Thursday, the couple died in a car accident.

Ed and Lorraine were married at First Presbyterian Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 15, 1969. They moved to Newport News, where they helped start The Mustard Seed, a Christian community that took its name from Scripture: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say this to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Ed and Lorraine traveled with the group in 1985 to Atlanta to meet with the Habitat for Humanity International co-founder Millard Fuller and discuss how to start a local chapter.

Then, they did just that.

They raised funds, gathered their friends and built the first Habitat for Humanity house in the rain, Peninsula & Greater Williamsburg Habitat for Humanity CEO Janet Green said. Lorraine coordinated operations from her kitchen until 1992.

When Lorraine retired in 2008, she was still an active member of the organization, coming to every ribbon cutting and celebration.

“They were everything to Habitat,” Green said.

In 1992, Lorraine was The Daily Press’ Citizen of the Year. She won $1,000 for the award, and donated it to the Peninsula Habitat for Humanity.

Former Newport News Mayor Barry DuVal said in the 1992 story she had “unselfish community spirit”.

“Many people provide services to the residents of Newport News, but perhaps none better exemplifies the qualities of unselfishness, community spirit, volunteerism and the ability to get a job done than Lorraine Austin,” he said.

Lorraine and Ed’s friend Gail Kent nominated her for the award.

Ed was the reserved one, Kent said. Lorraine was always going up to people and asking if they wanted to get involved in the projects she was working on, whether that be Habitat for Humanity, their church choir group or fishing.

“She sparkled,” Kent said.

Lorraine loved to fish. That’s something she’d want remembered, Kent said. On Ed and Lorraine’s 25th anniversary, Ed asked if she wanted a new ring. She said she’d rather have a fishing boat.

Nearly everyone who knew Lorraine went fishing with her at least once. Deborah Carr was the Austins’ music director at Hidenwood Presbyterian Church. Lorraine, who taught Carr how to fish, would attend choir rehearsal until 9 p.m., then take her fishing.

Ed, on the other hand, was a crafter, Carr said. He liked woodshop, not fishing, and was always working on another project, like building bunk beds for children who didn’t have beds. He helped construct the Habitat homes — digging trenches, pouring concrete, laying block and putting on roofs.

Friends say their impact on the community went beyond their charity work.

It was the little things. When Carr had double replacement hip surgery ten years ago, Lorraine spent the night in the hospital with her, holding her hand.

Whenever she was driving with her friend Catherine Taylor, if she saw a traffic stop, she would pull over to be a witness.

Lorraine and Ed did everything together — even changed the world together, Green said.

“If there’s any comfort for this tragic loss, it’s that they were together until the end,” she said.

The Austins are survived by their sons, Lawrence and Daniel, daughters-in-law, Holly and Gwyneth, and six grandchildren, Luke, Peter, Mark, Timothy, Rose and Emmett.

Gifts in their name can be donated to Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, PO Box 1443, Newport News, VA 23601, or St. John’s Episcopal Church, 100 W Queens Way, Hampton, VA 23669.

Flowers may be sent directly to the site of their memorial in advance of the service, which will be 10 a.m. on Aug. 14 at Hidenwood Presbyterian Church.