TekDiveGirl / Kimber Hawkens Thurman

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Celebration of Life for KImber Hawkens Thurman
Saturday June 1st 2019 at 11 am
The Mission Church
825 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, Ca 92008
Kylia Thurman:
Thank you to those of you who have reached out in the last few weeks to me and my family. All of your kind words are greatly appreciated.
We have planned a celebration of life for my sweet mom. It will be held on Saturday June 1st, 2019 at 11am. I have attached a link for a google doc rsvp. If you could please fill that out so I can get an idea of how many people will be there and how much food to order I would appreciate it. You can also find the address for the service in the form

.... link to post and document ... Kylia Thurman

 
I have only been on this board a few years, and have an exceptionally terrible memory, but the story I read about Kimber here and how I felt reading it left a long-lasting impression. I was in awe that someone like her existed. I still am.

This instantly made me cry and it didn't stop until I started writing this.

Reading through this thread and other ones, it amazes me how so many people have such wonderful things to say about how she touched their lives.

To be able to have such an incredible impact on people through the stories others have told about her speaks unfillable volumes about who she was and will continue to be. Those kind of people never truly pass, they always live on through the people they so positively affected.

Thank you for continuing to share stories about her, D_B. It's truly appreciated.
 
sharing Kimber Stories .. I have so many ... it helps me to tell them, and it seems that is my purpose now

thank you for the kind words, and especially yours CapsFan ... :heart:
 
a recent one from last summer ...

we went to Idlewild for a brief getaway.
Kimber had her new power chair that brags about the suspension it has, was the first time trying out the new chairs capabilities, after trying a few things, broken pavement, small curbs, etc, that it handled so well, Kimber's reaction was ..
OMG now I want to find more stuff to drive off , climb over ! :jump:

after we got home we kept testing the chairs capabilities .. here is Kimber going off a full size curb in her QUICKIE QM-7 with Spidertrack 2.0 suspension ... the look on her face when I suggested she go off it .. horror and anticipation both :)

 
* MELANCHOLY *
... her house, her things, her memorial, her dinner .... all of the Kimber things are done now :(
... only the few things we've kept and her memory remains

it was a good celebration of her life yesterday, with maybe a bit more than 80 people attending , we told stories and shared memories, her teachers and friends made from the ABI program came, as did one of her professors from CSUSM (Kimber graduated posthumously with her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, and her Minor Degree in Anthropology )

Here is what I had to say to them all

Thank you for all that could attend, and for those others that are here in heart and spirit
I want to thank especially the members of the Acquired Brain Injury Program at Mesa College, the life long friends she made there were so important to her and the abilities she learned there were instrumental in her ultimately getting her degree
and SDUSM for their compassion and love shown to us
It is very plain to see that Kimber left a mark on everyone that knew her

please bear with me as I recount some "Kimber Stories , I ramble ... Kimber would not be surprised in the least :wink:

STORY : I met Kimber online at a scuba diving forum called ScubaBoard
We had planned a big scubaboard get together but with me being a new diver I asked her about doing a pre trip dive to the destroyer Yukon sunk off our coast because I only had 15 open water dives, but before we could do it she had her diving accident ... all we knew was that she was in a coma, and family wanted there to be no visitors, not even the location given out.
Her friend Tracy on scubaboard somehow found out where she was and seeing as I was in San Diego, "lets get DB to go"
So .. I went there, snuck into the ER , and when I saw that there were nurses with her I had to wait, a doctor saw me and asked if he could help me, so I told hem, and he responded with "why don't you wait with her Mom and the rest of her family in the ER waiting room" ... I thought Oh No! her mom is going to wonder who the heck is this man and what is he doing here!!?? .. turned out she was most gracious and we talked a while, and as it was that they were already leaving, she turned and asked me if I had a chance to visit with her daughter yet, I said no, so she took me over to her and I gave her all the well wishes from all her friends on scubaboard
Doctors say that people that get an arterial gas embolism usually die, and even if she survived she would not be Kimber any more
Some time later after she had woke up and was having visitors, I went, and when I entered there was family and friends there, and when she saw me, the very first thing she she said was .. "so, when are we diving the Yukon?"
Yep, she's still Kimber! :)

When Kimber was in rehab I was fortunate to be able to leave work every other day at noon to go visit her, almost every visit was witness to some remarkable progress she had made and I would write in the Kimber Watch on Scuba Board about my visits.
this is one of the posts I made

It was remarkable to see so much change in her condition each day that I went
But not every day was one of great progress ...

you might see the Kimber that you know in this post

QUOTE:
July 19 2006
Some insight on a strong woman

Kimber has a long ways to go yet in rehab, and progress is sometimes so painfully slow you might think that would be discouraging to her .. she won't allow it, not for a minute ... she has a way of turning things around, looks at it as her challenge. This woman has never backed away from anything in her life, this is no exception.
I think my favorite saying right now is a quote from (Lorraine Lazzar) ...
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." ... I have had the good grace to be in the presence of such a will.

She has such a great disposition I am wishing once again , that you could visit with her, to see just how happy she truly is, so ready to smile, to laugh .. you come away from the visit refreshed, that in going to cheer her up, she has somehow cheered you instead, and your the one the better for your visit with her

_ STORY : Escalator Escapade
I don't remember where we were, but it was way back when wherever we went, I held her hand and she did not take her walker
she saw the escalator and must have jokingly mentioned something about going up it
OK then
after making sure she understood to go when I said go, and to trust me to take care of the rest
we squared off

GO!

oh gawd you should have heard the laughter! :D
and of course we went back down ... all to the horrified onlookers I am sure :)

STORY : Kimber had great stamina
we went to visit some native painted rocks in Little Blair Valley in the Anza Borrego Desert.
It's about 1 mile on a sandy trail to them, after about 2 1/2 hours she could not go further because of the soft ground making it so strenuous so we sent the kids ahead to take pictures, then we walked back ... all in all Kimber walked for over 5 hours !!

"And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back
because her passion burned brighter than her fears."

Thank you Sweetie for all our adventures together , I enjoyed every one of them and for making my life so much better :jump:
I love you Honey, and I miss you oh so terribly
 
I just learned of Kimber's passing. My sincere condolences to Don, Kimber's children and family.

I had the great joy of meeting Kimber when a group of SBers and Ii dove Catalina Island in 2009. She was so gracious, kind, and funny. You could see how devoted Don was to Kimber. They were so sweet together.

Big e-hug to you, Don.
That was an epic day. So glad I got to meet Kimber & DB that day.
Kimber was a strong & determined lady who will be missed.
 
Just over 13 years ago I was sent on a mission to sneak into the Critical Care unit at UCSD Medical Center and carry wishes of care and love to a badly injured member of the MOF/NMOF group on Scuba Board , this is the note of where I was to find her when no one was supposed to know
This ... was the start of my witnessing, and sharing in, an incredible journey by TekDiveGirl/Kimber Hawkins Thurman :jump:

I found this note while clearing out some drawers and I talked to Kylia, she agrees that is where Kimber was at first , in something more than an Intensive Care Unit ...

64462200_2810206948995520_671877415038877696_n.jpg


mof 4.jpg
 
That was an epic day. So glad I got to meet Kimber & DB that day.
Kimber was a strong & determined lady who will be missed.

I did not realize that it was also your first time meeting them as well.
 
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