Kaymi transitioned on a beautiful summer morning, as the sun was rising on August 20th, 2022, to meet her heavenly Father after a brief period in hospice. She passed at home, as was her wish, after a lifetime grappling with mitochondria disease, coupled with a myriad of medical complications that stalked and chased her in ways she was never able to outrun.
Kaymi was a beautiful, bright, brown-eyed child with dimples who stole my heart from the moment I laid eyes on her. She was in constant motion, loved to learn anything new, was shy at times, but ultimately an extrovert, and had a love and a drive for playing and watching sports. She was swimming independently at three and a half, bike riding training wheel-free by four, hiking the mountains in Acadia National Park, downhill skiing at Hermon Mountain by five, and playing ice hockey for the Maine Junior Black Bears. She moved on to private skateboarding lessons and rollerblading at the Old Town-Orono YMCA. She loved to be in motion all-the-time! She played soccer and loved to run. Her greatest passion was ball…baseball and softball. Kaymi had a true skill for catching, throwing, and batting from an early age. At two and a half years old, she could hit with a fat bat while being pitched to at Swan Lake. She amassed a crowd of onlookers who were clapping and cheering at her remarkable success.
Formal education posed successes and challenges. The challenges dotted the formative years, long before her illnesses were diagnosed, managed, and well attended. Kaymi hit her stride late in middle school when Mr. Meigs-McDonald required reading for English. She learned to read that year. Excessively. Kaymi independently read over one hundred books between March and June of her eighth-grade year and ultimately received an award at years end. Her first academic award. EVER. Kaymi first felt seen when she reached Old Town High School. Mr. Dexter recognized she belonged predominantly in mainstream courses. She loved him so much for his vision, in addition to his social capital. While Kaymi always knew who she was, being seen by someone in a position of power who can alter your experience, helps others value, and treat you differently. Mr. Ploch taught sciences. Kaymi fell in love with science and Mr. Ploch. He offered the kind of love a student is supposed to have with a teacher who opens their mind to possibilities, inspires their love of continuous learning, and sees their ability to contribute, despite their infectious excitement and impulsive interruptions. Kaymi took his courses every year and excelled. She loved him because he could see her. She adored Mrs. Rush for making it all possible. For designing the entire high school experience effortlessly and making it work for Kaymi. For coming to see her at home during the pandemic when learning became remote. For bringing her cards and kindness wrapped in care. Teachers, other than parents, nurture ideas, loves, losses, passions, growth, interest pathways, and every single thing in between, with our children. All that our children become is likely the function of a parent, or a teacher, and sometimes both. Kaymi’s aspirations were to be a veterinarian or an obstetrician.
Initially, everything for Kaymi, came easy and years ahead of her same age peers. In addition to her gifts with baseball, she was prolific with language: learning it, using it, creating it, and speaking her truth. Kaymi had two superpowers: empathy and her ability to tell her truth as she saw it. She said what needed saying. Often that looked like telling you she loved your dress, your shoes, or your smile. But it also included telling you when you needed to step up, lacked patience, were inappropriate, or had forgotten her. Long before her mother, Kaymi knew her days were limited. She wasted none of her time and she refused to allow you to waste the time you had with her as well. All her childhood, she spoke of wishing to never grow up. Those who heard her comments, dismissed those as musings from a child who loved the nurturing she received. After all, she was a sick child. In hindsight, Kaymi always knew she never really would reach adulthood.
Kaymi was a remarkable soul from the moment she landed in my arms. She was also an introspective and burdened child. She masqueraded as a fantastical human who spoke of fairies and Santa’s elves, both of which mattered to her. Few saw the essence of her spirit and true self.
She carried the weight of the world’s woes within her heart. She worried deeply about the hunger facing humans. Plastics in the waters of our oceans and the impact upon marine life. She was gravely troubled by existential issues such as the homelessness impacting people and how individuals could truly have no home or family of which to seek shelter and refuge. She never came to understand why people seeking to adopt children or pets want the babies, knowing that older ones remain behind, unchosen. She had dreams to change and impact so many things.
Kaymi lived life as her spiritual self. She had a way of knowing that all things were connected, and she accepted people’s judgments, assumptions, and reductions of her. She never demanded more. She always knew who she was. She arrived here with a deep sense of knowing and hoped people would join her, and many did. She lived life awake, alive, and always moving very quickly. She knew early, time was everyone’s most valuable commodity. She loved many, many people but no one more than her mother. Fortunately, the feelings were mutual.
You should consider yourself loved if you received a handwritten note card, a painting, or a knitted hat from Kaymi. She loved to write in what is now often considered the old-fashioned way. She wrote cards to people she loved up until the week before she passed. Kaymi’s painting abilities began when she was just 18-months old. Her artwork lines the walls of her home. She found art to be such an expression of the colorful world in which she lived. She painted pictures these last few years for so many of the people who touched her life. Kaymi learned to knit on a loom and found relief from anxiety and a skill that served so many. She made and donated hundreds of hats to Cancer Care of Maine, The Shaw House, Old Town Elementary School, Adoptive and Foster Care of Maine, and many more. She gave and sold others to family and friends. She started her own small business when she was fourteen years old, Kaymi’s Kozys. Kaymi used to say she got her knitting skills from her Gram!
Many physicians have served Kaymi throughout her lifetime, too many to count and far many more than any child should have ever needed. She lived in hospitals and medical facilities that dotted the eastern seaboard, likely half of her lifetime. She also had an amazing Make-A-Wish experience that she adored with her childhood friend, Grace. Not all medicine, hospitals, and care are created equal. Some rise above others for sure. Kaymi had more physicians in her lifetime than she had friends. Thank you to Drs. Laurie Douglass, Brooke Surran, and Mahmuda Ahmed for delivering exceptional medical care with understanding and compassion. Not all physicians can do both. Dr. Ahmed and Kaymi shared a special relationship and Kaymi loved her immensely. She came to rely on her and referred to her as her favorite doctor. It takes a lot to win Kaymi over. Thank you for your service to a remarkable child.
Dr. Albert Adams has walked this incredible journey with Kaymi since she was 10 months old, several months after she came to me. He found all the right specialists, medical facilities, and at times, relieved a few people of their duties when it was necessary. One shouldn’t need to be commended for doing their job in America. But Dr. Adams did more than his job. He honored his oath when many others choose not. He meant it when he committed to do no harm. He honored his commitment to Kaymi’s right to choose her own path toward the end of her life, despite how hard that was for all of us, including him. There are many physicians masquerading as healers, I assure you. Kaymi’s pediatrician is the authentic deal, through and through. Integrity is an expensive commodity today and it’s often bought and sold. Dr. Adams’ agenda was always his patient, Kaymi. She trusted him. She felt seen and heard and benefited immensely from his time, dedication, and his love manifested through his medical talent. These physicians are difficult to find. She, and I, will deeply miss the man she affectionately called “the Boss”. May he know he did everything humanly possibly all these years, with compassion, and deep caring, to heal and save her. Kaymi and whomever she deemed her maker, had other plans for her beautiful soul.
One of the last big highlights in Kaymi’s life was spitting into a test tube in June of 2019 and finding some of her birth family. She nurtured connections to a paternal aunt in Ohio, cousins in the south, and fell deeply in love with her Auntie in New Jersey whom she saw multiple times before she passed. She loved expanding her family.
Kaymi’s was held and loved by a compilation of chosen, adopted, and birth family. She is survived by her mother, Tamara J. Hunt and Kaymi’s retired service dog, Mya, Kaymi is survived by two sets of grandparents: Freda M. Malloch and Judson & Carolyn Livingston. She had several aunts: Karla Ramsay (David), Loraine Fanelli (James), Danah Arnold, Christie Livingston, Lori Livingston Mallory (Bill), and Danyal Campbell (Melissa). Her uncles were: Chad Livingston (Michelle), Chip Livingston, Scott Malloch (Gretchen) and Joshua Hedrick; Birth mother was Darlene Reynolds; Kaymi shared a magical, nurturing, and loving connection with Kimm Kenniston (Terry) that transcended academics and endured through the years. Kaymi leaves behind several friends but no more loyal or true than her best friend, Lilly Heeney, Kristin Martin. Kaymi leaves behind several cousins: Jake, Jaxon, Judson, Joseph, Claire, Zach, Brad, Dawson, Reid, and Anthony. Thank you to Beacon Hospice, particularly Ashley, Kaymi’s nurse, for providing support as Kaymi left this life for the next.
Kaymi was predeceased by her grandfathers: Kenneth L. Hunt and Donald Malloch; Her grandmother, Mildred Hunt, her uncle, Christopher Hunt, and her cousin, Zachary Callahan, whom she missed constantly.
Funeral services are being arranged by Brookings-Smith and will be held Monday, August 29th, 2022, at 133 Center Street, Bangor, ME. Relatives, and friends may call between 12:00-1:00 PM for visitation. Service will be held at 1:00 PM. Private burial will be in Highland Cemetery in Carmel, Maine.
Attire Expectations: Kaymi’s request for her celebration be that visitors dress in outfits of their favorite team or sport. She was adamant people refrain from dressing in culturally typical clothing for her celebration of life. Please honor her wishes, if possible. If you do not ascribe to a team per se, choose a local school, Old Town High School Coyotes, or she loved the Boston Red Socks!
Masks ARE required and unfortunately, there are no exceptions. Kaymi sacrificed 2.5 years of in-person-school attendance in exchange for more time to be alive. Wearing a mask isn’t a political statement; It is and was a life saver.
Kaymi’s memorial page can be found at Everloved: https://everloved.com/life-of/kaymi-hunt/
Those who wish to virtually attend the service may scroll up and select the photos and videos tab.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Kaymi Hunt, please visit our flower store.
Kaymi was a beautiful, bright, brown-eyed child with dimples who stole my heart from the moment I laid eyes on her. She was in constant motion, loved to learn anything new, was shy at times, but ultimately an extrovert, and had a love and a drive for playing and watching sports. She was swimming independently at three and a half, bike riding training wheel-free by four, hiking the mountains in Acadia National Park, downhill skiing at Hermon Mountain by five, and playing ice hockey for the Maine Junior Black Bears. She moved on to private skateboarding lessons and rollerblading at the Old Town-Orono YMCA. She loved to be in motion all-the-time! She played soccer and loved to run. Her greatest passion was ball…baseball and softball. Kaymi had a true skill for catching, throwing, and batting from an early age. At two and a half years old, she could hit with a fat bat while being pitched to at Swan Lake. She amassed a crowd of onlookers who were clapping and cheering at her remarkable success.
Formal education posed successes and challenges. The challenges dotted the formative years, long before her illnesses were diagnosed, managed, and well attended. Kaymi hit her stride late in middle school when Mr. Meigs-McDonald required reading for English. She learned to read that year. Excessively. Kaymi independently read over one hundred books between March and June of her eighth-grade year and ultimately received an award at years end. Her first academic award. EVER. Kaymi first felt seen when she reached Old Town High School. Mr. Dexter recognized she belonged predominantly in mainstream courses. She loved him so much for his vision, in addition to his social capital. While Kaymi always knew who she was, being seen by someone in a position of power who can alter your experience, helps others value, and treat you differently. Mr. Ploch taught sciences. Kaymi fell in love with science and Mr. Ploch. He offered the kind of love a student is supposed to have with a teacher who opens their mind to possibilities, inspires their love of continuous learning, and sees their ability to contribute, despite their infectious excitement and impulsive interruptions. Kaymi took his courses every year and excelled. She loved him because he could see her. She adored Mrs. Rush for making it all possible. For designing the entire high school experience effortlessly and making it work for Kaymi. For coming to see her at home during the pandemic when learning became remote. For bringing her cards and kindness wrapped in care. Teachers, other than parents, nurture ideas, loves, losses, passions, growth, interest pathways, and every single thing in between, with our children. All that our children become is likely the function of a parent, or a teacher, and sometimes both. Kaymi’s aspirations were to be a veterinarian or an obstetrician.
Initially, everything for Kaymi, came easy and years ahead of her same age peers. In addition to her gifts with baseball, she was prolific with language: learning it, using it, creating it, and speaking her truth. Kaymi had two superpowers: empathy and her ability to tell her truth as she saw it. She said what needed saying. Often that looked like telling you she loved your dress, your shoes, or your smile. But it also included telling you when you needed to step up, lacked patience, were inappropriate, or had forgotten her. Long before her mother, Kaymi knew her days were limited. She wasted none of her time and she refused to allow you to waste the time you had with her as well. All her childhood, she spoke of wishing to never grow up. Those who heard her comments, dismissed those as musings from a child who loved the nurturing she received. After all, she was a sick child. In hindsight, Kaymi always knew she never really would reach adulthood.
Kaymi was a remarkable soul from the moment she landed in my arms. She was also an introspective and burdened child. She masqueraded as a fantastical human who spoke of fairies and Santa’s elves, both of which mattered to her. Few saw the essence of her spirit and true self.
She carried the weight of the world’s woes within her heart. She worried deeply about the hunger facing humans. Plastics in the waters of our oceans and the impact upon marine life. She was gravely troubled by existential issues such as the homelessness impacting people and how individuals could truly have no home or family of which to seek shelter and refuge. She never came to understand why people seeking to adopt children or pets want the babies, knowing that older ones remain behind, unchosen. She had dreams to change and impact so many things.
Kaymi lived life as her spiritual self. She had a way of knowing that all things were connected, and she accepted people’s judgments, assumptions, and reductions of her. She never demanded more. She always knew who she was. She arrived here with a deep sense of knowing and hoped people would join her, and many did. She lived life awake, alive, and always moving very quickly. She knew early, time was everyone’s most valuable commodity. She loved many, many people but no one more than her mother. Fortunately, the feelings were mutual.
You should consider yourself loved if you received a handwritten note card, a painting, or a knitted hat from Kaymi. She loved to write in what is now often considered the old-fashioned way. She wrote cards to people she loved up until the week before she passed. Kaymi’s painting abilities began when she was just 18-months old. Her artwork lines the walls of her home. She found art to be such an expression of the colorful world in which she lived. She painted pictures these last few years for so many of the people who touched her life. Kaymi learned to knit on a loom and found relief from anxiety and a skill that served so many. She made and donated hundreds of hats to Cancer Care of Maine, The Shaw House, Old Town Elementary School, Adoptive and Foster Care of Maine, and many more. She gave and sold others to family and friends. She started her own small business when she was fourteen years old, Kaymi’s Kozys. Kaymi used to say she got her knitting skills from her Gram!
Many physicians have served Kaymi throughout her lifetime, too many to count and far many more than any child should have ever needed. She lived in hospitals and medical facilities that dotted the eastern seaboard, likely half of her lifetime. She also had an amazing Make-A-Wish experience that she adored with her childhood friend, Grace. Not all medicine, hospitals, and care are created equal. Some rise above others for sure. Kaymi had more physicians in her lifetime than she had friends. Thank you to Drs. Laurie Douglass, Brooke Surran, and Mahmuda Ahmed for delivering exceptional medical care with understanding and compassion. Not all physicians can do both. Dr. Ahmed and Kaymi shared a special relationship and Kaymi loved her immensely. She came to rely on her and referred to her as her favorite doctor. It takes a lot to win Kaymi over. Thank you for your service to a remarkable child.
Dr. Albert Adams has walked this incredible journey with Kaymi since she was 10 months old, several months after she came to me. He found all the right specialists, medical facilities, and at times, relieved a few people of their duties when it was necessary. One shouldn’t need to be commended for doing their job in America. But Dr. Adams did more than his job. He honored his oath when many others choose not. He meant it when he committed to do no harm. He honored his commitment to Kaymi’s right to choose her own path toward the end of her life, despite how hard that was for all of us, including him. There are many physicians masquerading as healers, I assure you. Kaymi’s pediatrician is the authentic deal, through and through. Integrity is an expensive commodity today and it’s often bought and sold. Dr. Adams’ agenda was always his patient, Kaymi. She trusted him. She felt seen and heard and benefited immensely from his time, dedication, and his love manifested through his medical talent. These physicians are difficult to find. She, and I, will deeply miss the man she affectionately called “the Boss”. May he know he did everything humanly possibly all these years, with compassion, and deep caring, to heal and save her. Kaymi and whomever she deemed her maker, had other plans for her beautiful soul.
One of the last big highlights in Kaymi’s life was spitting into a test tube in June of 2019 and finding some of her birth family. She nurtured connections to a paternal aunt in Ohio, cousins in the south, and fell deeply in love with her Auntie in New Jersey whom she saw multiple times before she passed. She loved expanding her family.
Kaymi’s was held and loved by a compilation of chosen, adopted, and birth family. She is survived by her mother, Tamara J. Hunt and Kaymi’s retired service dog, Mya, Kaymi is survived by two sets of grandparents: Freda M. Malloch and Judson & Carolyn Livingston. She had several aunts: Karla Ramsay (David), Loraine Fanelli (James), Danah Arnold, Christie Livingston, Lori Livingston Mallory (Bill), and Danyal Campbell (Melissa). Her uncles were: Chad Livingston (Michelle), Chip Livingston, Scott Malloch (Gretchen) and Joshua Hedrick; Birth mother was Darlene Reynolds; Kaymi shared a magical, nurturing, and loving connection with Kimm Kenniston (Terry) that transcended academics and endured through the years. Kaymi leaves behind several friends but no more loyal or true than her best friend, Lilly Heeney, Kristin Martin. Kaymi leaves behind several cousins: Jake, Jaxon, Judson, Joseph, Claire, Zach, Brad, Dawson, Reid, and Anthony. Thank you to Beacon Hospice, particularly Ashley, Kaymi’s nurse, for providing support as Kaymi left this life for the next.
Kaymi was predeceased by her grandfathers: Kenneth L. Hunt and Donald Malloch; Her grandmother, Mildred Hunt, her uncle, Christopher Hunt, and her cousin, Zachary Callahan, whom she missed constantly.
Funeral services are being arranged by Brookings-Smith and will be held Monday, August 29th, 2022, at 133 Center Street, Bangor, ME. Relatives, and friends may call between 12:00-1:00 PM for visitation. Service will be held at 1:00 PM. Private burial will be in Highland Cemetery in Carmel, Maine.
Attire Expectations: Kaymi’s request for her celebration be that visitors dress in outfits of their favorite team or sport. She was adamant people refrain from dressing in culturally typical clothing for her celebration of life. Please honor her wishes, if possible. If you do not ascribe to a team per se, choose a local school, Old Town High School Coyotes, or she loved the Boston Red Socks!
Masks ARE required and unfortunately, there are no exceptions. Kaymi sacrificed 2.5 years of in-person-school attendance in exchange for more time to be alive. Wearing a mask isn’t a political statement; It is and was a life saver.
Kaymi’s memorial page can be found at Everloved: https://everloved.com/life-of/kaymi-hunt/
Those who wish to virtually attend the service may scroll up and select the photos and videos tab.
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