Kris Hunter's Celebration of Life

Hi, I'm Jess - you may know you me and you may not. Kris touched the lives of so many people that I can't even remotely imagine the amount of people that might be reading this.

Kris was my best friend. We worked at Seaworld together and were fast friends - for 8 years we never went more than 3 days without messaging each other. In 2022 I moved back home to Michigan to be closer to my family, which was the right choice for me - but our friendship never waivered. If you've had seen/heard any of Kris's story for the past year you'd know that it was a rough one, her daughter and her had a falling out. Thank you to everyone who offered her kind words and friendship during those times. It was so hard to see her hurt. She had been estranged from her family for 7 months at the time she passed. Back in April she had her will re-written and asked me if I'd be the executor if anything would happen to her. I, of course, said yes. Not thinking this would be anything I'd have to handle for years. She was a pretty active and healthy lady.

She passed away suddenly the day before Thanksgiving (11/22/23) - something called hemopericardium... a word I hadn't heard up until the point that the medical examiner told me after she passed and have unfortunately had to repeat more times than I want. There weren't any signs that anything was wrong - many of us had been messaging her just that morning. She arrived to work Fusion Fest, texted her roommate Jae - and then moments later someone found her collapsed and called 911. We believe she was gone before she made it to the ground.

Kris did not want a celebration of life, but I don't think that she could have imagined just not existing one day. I'm trusting my love, knowledge of Kris, and intuition to decide that she wouldn't be upset if we had one. She just knew that she didn't want to set money aside for it - everything that she did have (which wasn't much) is being put in an account for her grand daughter Lily when she becomes of age, as she directed in her will. So I'm using GoFundMe to crowdfund a celebration of life where we can all gather and share stories and grieve together.

Right now the amount is an estimate because I have no idea what these costs, the venue, catering, etc...

Please donate what you can - if we happen to exceed the amount that we are targeting the overflow will go into the fund for Lily. Lily was Kris's most favorite person in life, and if she hadn't passed so suddenly she would have continued to live frugally and set aside whatever she could to give her the best life - once she was allowed to see her again. I'm considering adding a silent auction to this event to continue raising those funds but I need to ensure the space would facilitate something like that.