Cedar Park Father Pays Tribute To Late Stepdaughter

AUSTIN, TX — At the bottom of a recent police press advisory on a motorist death, police encapsulated the incident with a requisite, dry recitation of facts, as is their custom after each such incident: Austin's 7th fatal traffic crash of 2020 resulting in seven fatalities so, compared with three traffic fatalities for the same period last year.

Yet D'Avion Lee Suon, 20, was no mere statistic. Her father, David Johnson, reached out to Patch to talk about the stepdaughter he raised since she was seven years old, offering his own set of statistics: Her academic scholarship to the University of Texas at San Antonio; selection to the dean's list; straight A student; a young woman with a kind heart.

In its press advisory, the Austin Police Department said Lee Suon was driving along the 1400 block of West Cesar Chavez Street on Wednesday, Jan. 22, just before 8:30 p.m. in a gray Toyota Corolla when she crossed the center line into the path of a Chevrolet Silverado. By the time medics arrived, the young woman was dead at the scene while the other driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Hers was a brief but beautiful life, her stepfather said. After spending her childhood in Brooklyn, New York, and Robbinsdale, Minnesota, to parents Dy and Nina Suon, she started college at the University of Texas at San Antonio after graduating from Cedar Ridge High School in 2018.

"She just enjoyed life and having fun," Johnson told Patch. He recalled her love of the beach and a penchant for dancing. "D'Avion was always willing to bust a move on the dance floor, even if she was a bit off rhythm."

But she was determinedly serious in her studies: "D'Avion was a full time student in her sophomore year at the University of Texas, she was on the dean's list all semesters and had recently started working on her real estate license."

Nina Suon, D'Avion Luo Suon and David Johnson in happier times. Photo courtesy of family, used with permission.

Her efforts at tutoring other students illustrated her spirit, her stepdad added: "Anyone who knew D'Avion, understood her kind heart. She never wanted to pass a homeless person without giving them a few dollars. She would always try to lift up family and friends around her. She didn't want to hang up the phone without letting you know you're loved."

As a final act of kindness, her organs will be harvested to help others as the young woman specified organ donor status on her driver's license, her stepfather noted.

Related story: Woman Dies In Two-Car Wreck In Downtown Austin

Johnson noted that D'Avion was especially close to her mother, who would often encourage her to pursue her goals with the mantra "If you have a plan, get off the couch and make it happen!" D'Avion was Nina's only child, Johnson noted. She also had a strong bond to her grandparents Lloyd and Janice — married for 46 years — "...who she felt had her back through anything," Johnson said.

D'Avion and her mother, Nina Son. Photo provided by her family used with permission.

Negotiating their grief over their beloved D'Avion — who had turned 20 years old eight days before the fatal wreck — family members continue to wonder what caused the fatal wreck. "She was a very safe driver," Johnson said. "We’re dumbfounded why she crossed the center line on Cesar Chevaz. She rarely drank, never drank and drove."

It wasn't a case of distracted driving, the family reasons, as phone records indicate she last used her cell at 7:50 p.m. — a full 30 minutes before the fatal collision. It's a tragic mystery, and the memories of being notified haunt Johnson.

"The Austin crime advocate knocked on our door with two Cedar Park police officers to notify us at midnight. Travis medical examiner was calling us by 2 a.m. to get an okay to harvest her organs, which we did. She was a donor on her drivers license; she always thought that was an important thing for people to do."

Three weeks prior to her death, D'Avion suffered personal loss herself. Her father passed away on Jan. 1 after routine knee surgery in Cambodia at just 46 years old, Johnson said. Three weeks later, she was gone.

Courtesy photo used with permission.

Following a funeral service, D'Avion was interred at a Minneapolis, Minnesota, cemetery on Friday.