Kimberly Marie Hamilton was born on August 14, 1987, in
Fresno, California. From the moment that she came into my
life, she was the best child that one could hope for. She
always had a smile on her face, was easy to get along with,
and tried never to do anything wrong.
As she grew up, I could see the closeness between us. She
was “Momma’s Girl.” She enjoyed hanging out with me and
doing things together. We were very close. Even as her
teen years came around, the time when children start
breaking away to be with their friends, she always had time
to spend with me. Our favorite things to do were to go
shopping, watch movies together, and eat out at our favorite
restaurants.
She was my partner for the midnight showings of the Lord of
the Rings’ movies. We saw both the Two Towers and
Return of the King at midnight the day they came out, and
then went to see them in the afternoon on the same day with
the rest of our family. We looked forward to seeing those
movies each December and were sad that there would be
none in 2004.
Kimberly was a hockey fan. She was introduced to the sport
by her best friend, Becca, who took her to a game played by
the local team here, the Fresno Falcons. Her love of the
sport took off from there. Her walls were covered with the
pictures of the players and articles. She would keep a
notebook with the stats of each game that the Falcons
played. She wouldn’t miss a game unless she absolutely
could not help it.
Her favorite NHL team was the Detroit Red Wings and her
favorite player was Cujo. She was so excited when he was
able to play in the finals this year (2004) and was adamant
that last goal was not Cujo’s fault. One of the last pieces of
art done by Kimberly was a picture of Cujo done in dots.
Kimberly loved golf and playing for Clovis East. She lettered
in the sport her very first year. She would have continued
playing in her senior year and wanted to continue with it in
college.
Kimberly was into art, photography and drafting. She had a
wonderful imagination and her way of taking pictures or
drawing reflected that. She had an amazing talent for seeing
things in ways that other people did not. Her love of
photography and art would have continued on.
Another one of Kimberly’s favorite hobbies was cooking.
She enjoyed it so much. I used to watch her cook and it
reminded me of someone conducting an orchestra. It was as
if she were performing magic at times. Her favorite thing to
cook was chicken. We had chicken a lot. She even made
chicken spaghetti for us one evening, which was delicious.
Kimberly talked about becoming a teacher. She was very
good with children and often would baby sit for me watching
her two younger brothers, Ryan 10, and Nathan 8. She had
a way with them. They miss her terribly.
Kimberly and her older sister, Desiree, who is 19, had
become very close over the last couple of years. They were
each others confidants and kept each other very close.
Desiree misses her baby sister very much.
