In Memory and Honor of Jae

Yá'át'ééh

Recently, our beloved Edison Willie Jr. passed, and we are asking for funds to place him to rest. I am Amanda, and I am asking that you help me put my baby brother to rest. Before you make your donation, I want to share his story.

Edison was born on the Navajo Nation, and at three months old, his biological parents abandoned him with my family. Unfortunately, the biological parents were battling severe alcohol addiction that included homelessness, which led to their difficult decision. We took in Edison and renamed him Jae, and that is how most knew him. Jae was a kind, sweet kid, and despite the emptiness he felt from his biological family, he called me his sister. I wish I could report that the rest was a fairytale, but I can't express in words the traumatic childhood we both endured from our mother, who was mentally ill and inflicted extreme child abuse and neglect. As a result, he and I were the only happiness we knew in a dark time, and we were each other's light. No matter how hard it was, we made each other laugh and smile.

I loved him as a brother and son. I raised him and watched him sit and walk, and I'll forever cherish those memories of us. This holiday season will be especially difficult because Jae would always come back to me and spend time eating and laughing. This year, he will be missed, but he will always be remembered.

Jae has biological family surviving, his father Edison Willie Sr. and brothers Eddie Willie and Orlando Jaurez, sister Yolanda Mitchell. In August of 2024, Jae was reunited with them after 31 years of searching, and in the process of discovering his family after years of missing them.

Jae will be reunited in the afterlife with my late siblings: Manny, Matthew, and Amber. I am the last surviving as I have placed my entire family to rest. Jae will also be finally reunited with his late biological mother, Pauline Juarez and brother Aaron John.

My brother was a strong, proud man, and I know he would never ask for money, so I am here asking for donations to be shared. I do have Zelle, Cash App, or Venmo options as well.

Thank you in advance for your contributions.

Sincerely,

Amanda

If I still have you and you are reading, I want to share my prayer with you:

Heavenly Father, our creator, and holy ones, thank you for giving me my brother - he was light in darkness, and I understand why he was here. He was here for me to have happiness and love when it did not exist for me. Thank you. I pray knowing I have been filled, and that is why you have called my brother home. Show him your unconditional love, let him have the happiness he deserves, and allow him to be free of the worldly problems. I pray he is walking among my brothers and sister, and embraced by his mother. My heart hurts, and I pray for strength, and I don't want my brother to feel my pain - I only want him to know how proud I am and grateful for his blessing. Godspeed unto his spirit, and I release his spirit to be with our creator.

Hózhóogo naasháa doo

Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo

Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo

Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo

T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo

Hózhó náhásdlíí’

Hózhó náhásdlíí’

Hózhó náhásdlíí’

Hózhó náhásdlíí’

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again

It has become beauty again

It has become beauty again

It has become beauty again

Amen.