I won’t need too many words because anyone who knows me or is familiar with my family at all knows just how much Kamille means to us. She is beloved and not in the past tense. Her impact, the mark she left on people’s lives can be seen, felt and heard even today. She is the most tenacious human being I’ve ever met.
I tell people all the time that my brother and I have two moms. Our mother Christine and our sister. It’s not a joke either. Kamille would call both of us on a regular basis. To make sure we were eating right; to make sure we were doing right. She was very much involved in both of our lives and I looked forward to that phone call every day.
It’s hard to find one or two defining memories of someone you’ve known your whole life. I always think to when we lived with each other but as adults and we would have conversations in the morning about all sorts of things, sometimes about things you wouldn’t expect her to know about.
She told me one day she wanted to walk again, and I responded that I wanted to be there to see it. That’s what I’ll remember most about Kamille. She loved her life as difficult as it was. Through multiple surgeries and countless hospital stays and rehabs none of it stopped her from being who she was, the person we honor today.
I wish I had five minutes more to tell her how much I love her. I never once saw it as my duty to take care of her. It was my privilege to do so. She was more than my sister. She was my friend. She was my bedrock. The strength I needed to face this world. Instead I’ll tell all of you and anyone who reads these words.
Thank you, Kamille Elizabeth Gardner. Thank you for gracing this Earth with your presence and for giving me the honor of being your big brother.
My heart is broken now but it was only whole because I got to know you.
July 24, 2000 - July 10, 2026
