Tribute to Kimberly Harakal Bretz

On Monday, December 27th we lost an amazing light in this world. If you were blessed to know my Aunt Kim, your life was instantly filled with laughter, with happiness and more love than imaginable. I have never met someone who truly woke up every day and treated life like a gift. She found the light in every single moment and the best in everyone she met.

Kim was the seventh child of Betty and Mike Harakal's eight children. She grew up in Whitehall and graduated from WHS in 1981. She married her high school sweetheart William Bretz, and a marriage like theirs has always been goal of mine and all the younger (Harakal) crew. They have three amazing children, Morgan, Billy(deceased), and Logan. They have celebrated so much as a family and have also known heartache as a family. This never changed her caring for everyone around her and her love for our family. In fact it made her unbelievable zest for life grow even more. It made her love even stronger. She was our family's "go to" person. She was our sunshine in every day. She always had a hug for all and a smile to light up the room. A family function was never complete without her there. Her friendship was such a treasure to many.

My Aunt contracted the Covid virus and while we thought she was starting to heal, she contracted pneumonia and then had other major complications. She passed away and leaves behind a legacy of true good.

If the love, the prayers and the healing vibes sent from those she has touched could have saved her, I wouldn't be writing this. The amount of good she put out into this world can not be replaced but, we can all continue to be the things we loved most about her. We can all truly live more every day, we can all love harder everyday and we can all be someone's sunshine.

Please donate if you can, please share if you can and please get up, get out and go! Continue to spread Kim's love of life to everyone you meet. These donations will go directly to Morgan and Logan to help with costs from our family's unimaginable loss.