Derrick Meister studied Buddhism for years, was ‘deep thinker,’ ‘gentle soul,’ ‘irreplaceable thread’
NIC student Derrick Meister took his own life on Feb. 8 at the age of 21.
“It was very hard for Derrick to reconcile his nature to our world,” said Leah Meister, his mother. “Our world can be very harsh.”
Derrick studied Buddhism and, at 16, was the youngest student ever accepted into a program to become a Lama.
“He couldn’t kill a spider,” Leah Meister said. She said Derrick used to carry spiders he found in the house and put them under the water heater for the winter, and take them outside in the spring and let them go.
“He felt the pain of the world,” Leah Meister said. “He noticed everything.”
In the obituary, his family described him as a deep thinker and a gentle soul.
“Derrick is the irreplaceable thread in the fabric of this family,” the obituary said. “We can’t be whole without him.”
Leah Meister compared the loss to an arm amputation.
“It’s that difficult to live without him,” she said. “He was a great comfort to me.”
His mother described him as sweet, kind, smart, loving and sensitive.
“He was a very comforting soul,” she said. “When you think of Derrick, think of love.”
Derrick was born in 1990 in Eureka, Calif. He and his family moved to Bonners Ferry in 1998.
He attended Valley View Elementary School, Mt. Hall Elementary School and Bonners Ferry Junior High School.
He graduated from the Idaho Virtual Academy with honors in 2008. Meister had also completed the NIC CNA program. He had intended to become a physician.
He was one of ten NIC students who spent their spring break last year in Skagit County, Wash., building a Habitat for Humanity house.
“Derrick was a very kind and considerate guy in an unkind and inconsiderate world,” Leah Meister said. “He was born in the wrong time and the wrong culture.”
Idaho’s suicide rate is the fourth highest in the U.S.
“For those who have a chance to help their loved ones, I would encourage them to,” Leah Meister said.
