Amanda Kilby Ferdon “Mandy” was born on Friday August 1,1980 in Cottonwood Az, only 43 years later on March 28, 2024 Amanda's life would come to an end but her memory will forever live on in those who loved her.
Throughout the early years of her childhood Mandy lived with her mother Linda C. Kilby and her father Richard E. Ferdon at Picacho Peak State park where her father was head ranger. Mandy cherished her years living on the park and never wasted a minute of it, spending every second she could outdoors developing a love of nature, animals and stargazing. At the age of 12 she was diagnosed with a mental illness that would heavily impact the rest of her life.
During her teenage years Mandy and her mother moved to Tucson Az where she would eventually work to get her GED and then a few years later at the age of 19 Amanda gave birth to her oldest daughter Lily K.Petterson.
Amanda was never fond of living in the city so a few years later she moved to her mothers small hometown Camp Verde Az where she would spend the next 16 years of her life and have two more children, Jory O. Petterson and Zayden N. Ferdon.
While living in Camp Verde, When she wasn't busy taking care of her three children Mandy would spend her time doing things she enjoyed like listening to music , writing poetry , or rock hunting out by the river where a comical amount of rocks would fall victim to her being “sure its a geode” and even though it usually wasn’t, she’d always keep looking.
Although Amanda's life in the Verde Valley fulfilled her love of nature, in 2016 her mental illness would catch up to her resulting in her eventually moving back to Tucson for treatment which led to her passion to help others who are also fighting a battle within their own mind. For most of 2017 she worked in the employment training program at Cafe 54 and the following year she proudly accomplished her goal of becoming a Certified Recovery Support Specialist. Soon after she got a job at HOPE, Inc where she worked on the warm line providing emotional and peer support to people in need. Mandy loved this job with all her heart and found solace in showing others that they are not alone.
Unfortunately in March of 2020 shortly after the country went into lockdown due to Covid19, Amanda's mental health rapidly declined. Tragically, taking over the last four years of her life.
“ Choose to be happy Amanda. You are not simply a mentally ill human being. You Amanda, are bright and at times brilliant in your ability to love and show kindness to others. You will honor your loved ones by loving yourself, you have the right to be happy”
-Amanda K Ferdon 3/19/2024
This was written in her personal journal only 9 days before she passed away. Amanda would not want to be remembered as someone who was nothing but her illness because she was so much more. Amanda was a loved daughter,sibling,niece and friend. She was a mother who loved her kids more than anything, more than the “ Mysterious Beyond’ as she would say.
Amanda would want to be remembered for being a fun loving free spirited witchy hippie who would write arguably mediocre poetry and blast Avenged Sevenfold in the car while driving her kids to school. She’d want to be remembered for goofy laugh, her inability to get through a sentence without cursing or even her weird eating habits like her obsession with microwaved cheesy baked potatoes.
Amanda K Ferdon was a woman who was passionate about helping others and making a difference in this terrifying world and although mental illness was undeniably a part of Mandys life, It did not and never will define who she truly was as a person.
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