Camden William Rumuly

Camden William Rumuly ran into the wonderful and welcoming arms of his loving big sister, Aly Sue, preceding him in death in 2016. And, off they flew.

Camden spent every day for the last 8+ years obsessed about it: visiting the cemetery every week, or more often, where his grandparents and sister Aly rest, building Lego cemetery models, taking pictures of many tombstones, researching obituaries, and especially making many "cemetery friends" of the people who rest there, some he knew but so many he never actually met. He wanted to know their life stories and why they were there. He printed off pictures, framed them, and displayed them proudly on his memorial shelf in his playroom. He even had a shirt made with pictures of Owens, a veteran he never knew, wearing it proudly. Most of the time, he carried a picture of a beloved cemetery friend wherever he would go, even school, church, shopping, and eating Mexican food. These people were, are, his friends. They weren't random; they are real.

Cam wanted to know if Aly played with Keaton McCoy now in Heaven? He wanted to know about Keaton's parents and how upset they still are about SIDS so many years later. Why huge nameplate for Mombol, all written in French, and who brings him flowers? Babyland, where Stephen Wrigley is, brought up so many questions about baby-sized tombstone markers and how an entire field could be devoted to babies. Did Jesus call babies to Heaven? He couldn't figure out why Mommy’s high school bestie was buried in the field or if her kids missed her. Did Becky's husband cry? He loved to see Aaron Cole's mom at his graveside, also Devin Allen's mom and sister, along with Nancy Mason's husband, sitting in the mausoleum next to their places. How did Thopil get nameplate so fast and a video of the funeral, too? He actually routinely watched a couple of recorded funerals, like Mrs. Bobbie's, too. How brothers Nathaniel and Frank Fallis' spots are together, and more recently how their mother is placed in each one, too? How lasers cut pictures into tombstones? Why only a gold plate and no marker for some? Granddad cremated? Why? Neighbor Gann's remains donated to research? How? Why babies? Teenagers, wives, and grandparents? So many cemetery friends... Why die? How Jesus call them? How sad is everyone's family still here?

Routinely Cam’s parents had to set boundaries around his autistic hyper-fixation because he would spiral for answers and comfort everyday for things he struggled to understand and they couldn't easily explain. "Allowed to be depressed," he would say, "let me cry." He yearned for information on how, when and why he would pass, too. Would Mommy go first, then Cam? Daddy in trouble if go before us. He desired details. Everday: when and how.

Without warning after a sudden, severe, and unbeatable viral illness, Cam's remains now are placed with those of his sister and next to grandparents...along with all his beloved cemetery friends. No funeral. A Bluebonnet Hills obituary. His parents add the death date to his marker that he shares with his late sister Aly. He knows the details now as he flies high with his sister. And, his daddy and mommy know insurmountable grief.