Roll Call Tribute

Published in Houston Chronicle on October 20, 2012

Dario Natale Lorenzetti, 42, was tragically taken from us on October 13, 2012 in Afghanistan.
Service: Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 1206 Throckmorton Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102. A Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Laurel Land Memorial Chapel. Interment: 4 p.m. Saturday at Laurel Land Memorial Park with full military honors, followed by a Life Celebration BBQ at Nolan Catholic High School, 4501 Bridge St, Fort Worth.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations for his family may be made to the Dario Lorenzetti Memorial Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank or mailed to Wells Fargo Attn: Dario Lorenzetti Memorial Fund, 1002 FM 2920 Rd, Spring TX 77379.

Dario was born May 20, 1970, in Fort Worth and attended St. Andrews Catholic School and Nolan Catholic High School, where he was active in hockey and Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. He then attended Texas A&M University and the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. After graduating from West Point in 1993, he served for ten years in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer with assignments at the 101st Airborne Division, 75th Ranger Regiment, 1st Infantry Division and finally as a Professor of Military Science at Texas A&M University. During his tour in Korea with the 1st Infantry Division, Dario met Ms. Kirstin Bakke, and they were married in Fort Worth on June 22, 2002.
In 2006, Dario began his career with the State Department as a consular officer, where he was assigned to the Embassy in Saudi Arabia. During this assignment, Dario and Kirstin welcomed the arrival of daughter Jacqueline Arabella. His next assignment took the family to India, where they made many friends and welcomed the arrival of another daughter, Gianna Natalia. The family then returned to Texas and settled in Spring, where Lucia Aryanna was born. In 2011, Dario was posted to Afghanistan as a Political Officer. Dario is remembered as the most incredibly loving husband and father, a strong, compassionate, and inspiring leader, a loyal friend, the best son and brother ever and a dedicated American and Texan. He lived his life in cheerful service...a true man for others.

Dario was preceded in death by his mother, Joyce Bailey Lorenzetti.

Survivors: He is survived by his wife, Kirstin; daughters, Arabella, Natalia, and Aryanna; father, Olfeo Lorenzetti; sisters Maria Lorenzetti Blazo and Elizabeth Lorenzetti Harvey; 4 brothers-in-law; a sister in law; 5 nephews; 1 niece; and many loving cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.
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(Published in) (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram (on) October 14, 2012

Fort Worth native killed by suicide bomber in Afghanistan

By Sarah Bahari
sbahari@star-telegram.com

Upon returning home from Afghanistan, Dario Lorenzetti would rise early in the morning and make pancakes for his wife and three young daughters.

"He was a loving, loving father," said Ole Lorenzetti, Dario's father. "He could be in the middle of the most dangerous place and could be cooking in the kitchen the very next morning."

Lorenzetti was among six killed early Saturday in southern Afghanistan when a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at a local intelligence office.

The Fort Worth native was 42.

Friends and family say Lorenzetti felt drawn to public service, from his stint as class president at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth to his years in the U.S. Army.

For the past year-and-a-half, Lorenzetti worked in Afghanistan for the U.S. State Department, while his wife and children settled in Houston.

Lorenzetti attended St. Andrew Catholic School and Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth. After graduating in 1988, he attended Texas A&M for one year before transferring to West Point Academy. He graduated from West Point with honors in 1993, said his father, who lives in Fort Worth.

Lorenzetti spent several years in the Army, meeting his wife Kirstin while on assignment in Korea, and later training cadets at Texas A&M. In 2005, he joined the State Department and would serve in Saudi Arabia, India and finally, Afghanistan.

Even as his career flourished, friends say, Lorenzetti never boasted about his accomplishments.

"He was the kind of person more concerned about his country than himself," said Jason Cowen of Fort Worth, a longtime friend. "When you would ask him about his job, he would just laugh and say he was a pencil pusher."

Steve Holleman, a friend since elementary school, said Lorenzetti was a natural leader, an Eagle Scout and dedicated public servant.

"People liked him. People listened to him. People respected him," said Holleman, of North Richland Hills. "Dario was a class act."

In Lorenzetti's home, his wife, Kirstin, and daughters -- Arabella, 6; Natalia, 4; and Aryanna, 2 -- counted down his return on a calendar. He was scheduled to arrive home permanently Dec. 15.

Services are tentatively set for Saturday at St. Patrick Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth. Details are pending.