August Robert Grahn

August Robert Grahn was born in Walnut Creek, California, on February 17th, 1994. He spent his childhood in Piedmont, California. As a baby, he was a wild one. From the minute he started moving around, if it could be climbed, he would climb it. This sense of adventure never left him. Throughout his life, he was a creative, expressive, and deeply passionate person. He lived his life to the extreme. When he discovered a passion, he threw himself into it with his whole heart, be it medieval knights in shining armor, Greek and Roman gods, photography, skateboarding, fixed-gear bicycles, rock climbing, or sports with lots and lots of equipment. He gave all of these pursuits everything he had. Each time he found a new interest, he redirected his energy with the same focus and intensity.

In school, as he moved from Wildwood Elementary School to Piedmont Middle School and then to Piedmont High School, his endless creativity could not be constrained to a classroom. Instead, he found kindred spirits on the lacrosse field, on the water polo team, and in the Piedmont High School Drama Club, where he discovered a love of performing. In 2011, Augie upheld a long-standing Piedmont tradition by participating in the Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest. Augie and his team won second place, earning them a spot on The Late Show with David Letterman to perform their bird impression and show off their knowledge of ornithology. On the show, Augie tried to out-joke his host. But that was Augie. . . breaking the rules, upstaging Mr. Letterman on his own show, and getting away with it. During his senior year, Augie played Stanley Kowalski in the Piedmont High School production of A Streetcar Named Desire. His emotions leapt off the stage and moved every member of the audience. That production earned the distinction of being selected by the prestigious American High School Theatre Festival for performance at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

After graduating from Millennium High School in 2012, Augie was accepted into the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College, State University of New York, and moved across the country to follow his dream of being an actor. In 2015, Augie participated in the British American Drama Academy London Theater program, and he moved to LA to pursue acting. Augie explored new forms of artistic expression in 2018, and he began studying photography at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he flourished. It was there that his visual art evolved as he grew, learned, and made space to experiment.

Augie was a fierce and sensitive soul who loved his family, friends, music, travel, and nature. Augie had strongly held beliefs and loved to debate them. He had a wicked sense of humor and lit up any room with his smile. He was beloved for his honesty and authenticity. Augie was also complicated and could retreat into dark places, sometimes quite literally, escaping into the night to see things other people might miss, capturing images others might ignore, and turning solitude into insight. Though Augie struggled with depression and alcoholism, he was proudly three years sober, with support of his friends and the Los Angeles Alcoholics Anonymous community. Tragically, on February 26th, 2020, Augie took his own life.

Augie is survived by his loving parents, Robin Ketelle and Dale Grahn, sister Emma Grahn, grandmother Betty Ketelle, and his aunts, uncle, and cousins. He also leaves behind his family of friends, bound not by blood but by choice. He is preceded in death by his grandfathers, Robert Ketelle and Archie Grahn, his grandmother Caroline Grahn, and his uncles, Alan Grahn, John Grahn, and Jack Daniel.