K'mali J. Stapleton Obituary (1981

Sometimes in life we are given the extraordinary experience of knowing someone whom we were simply happy to have known. This experience was not as a result of great academic performances, scientific discoveries, great wealth or renowned legal practices. This person is ordinary with an extraordinary personality; quiet with an impacting presence; cool with a confident bearing; a loving nature and a willingness to show his love. This is the obituary of such a person. K'mali J. Stapleton was born on November 21, 1981 in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his formative years in Brooklyn and then relocated with his parents to Maine. His mother Debra Marecheau Burch insisted on a Christian education for her son. While in Brooklyn, K'mali attended the Bible Way Christian School and the Excelsior Seventh Day Adventist School. In Maine he attended the South Hope Christian School and Rockland District High School. He later attended the Eastern Maine Community College, where he was a final year student. To know K'mali was to love him. He was gracious, humorous, confident, courteous, quiet and cool. He possessed a unique sense of family and family values, of friendship and the responsibility of being a good friend, a great son, a loving brother and the cousin that everybody loved and wanted to be around. If you had the privilege of knowing K'mali then you were blessed to have known one of God's special persons. The memories we have of him will sustain us and help us to honor his life for a very long time. K'mali went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 in Bangor, Maine. He passed away in his sleep and left us quietly and without a fuss. In life as in death, K'mali went home in the trademark quality of life - quietly. K'mali leaves to celebrate, cherish and honor his life and memories, his mother and stepfather Debra and Douglas Burch; his father Rex Stapleton; sisters, Kazia Marecheau, Latrell Fisher, Sara Burch Murray; aunts, Eppie, Dawn, Gemma, Roslyn, Lynn, Dorette and Cheriese; uncles, Tresley and Keith; a host of cousins including Kazembe, Kimario, Kwame, Darrin, Brandon, Owen, Cherie, Nicole and the Stapleton/Samuel family; as well as many friends, including Nick, Callie, Matt, Caitlyn, Derek, Maria and Courtney. We will all miss the presence of this light in our lives. May K'mali rest peacefully in the arms of Jesus. Family and friends are invited to visit from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Monday, April 16, 2007 at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland, where a Celebration of K'mali's life will be held immediately following. The Reverends Walter Henderson and Robert Cull will officiate. Those who wish may make memorial donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 300, Memphis, TN 38148-0552. Please take a moment to visit K'mali's Personal Online Guest Book.