The transcendent, incomparable, and most wonderful Kimberly Brown came into this world on March 20, 1955. She departed on April 23, 2024, peacefully, gently, and gracefully. Her sweetheart Pascal was at her side as she made the transition to her next adventure.
Kim spent her last few years living in a beautiful cottage on the water. She knitted her famous anemone baby hats for potential offspring of the significant young persons in her life. She communed daily with seagulls, crows, baby seals, and other lesser creatures not to be mentioned. She hosted small weekly hour-long soirees on her deck. She enjoyed her last public performance with a small contingency of the Free Range Folk Choir in the recent production of “As You Like It.” She awoke each morning to the sound of waves lapping on the bulkhead, the birds calling and the tantalizing aroma of the Wild Mermaid bakery next door — these were the sensory experiences she savored.
Kim was simply free-flowing joy, and to be part of her close circle was a precious gift. Nothing gave her more pleasure than to listen quietly to the stories and the life journeys of loved ones. Everyone felt heard, and the recipients of her life-affirming compassion and empathy were uplifted and heart warmed. She was a messenger of humanity’s goodness with a dose of raucous humor and hearty laughter thrown in for good measure.
Kim was a private person, reticent about sharing her uniquely wild and crazy experiences. She once spent an evening in the Dalai Lama’s living room in Dharamsala, India. She lived for a year in a tent at a retreat center, surviving a Colorado winter (plumbing a quarter of a mile away). She participated in the famous Johns Hopkins study onthe efficacy of psilocybin in therapy. She was a subject in the first group psilocybin study in the world to assess potential relief for those with terminal cancer. She participated in a three-month cannabis cancer treatment protocol with encouraging results. One singular event in her thirties caused a course re-examination, and she subsequently attended the Naropa Institute, became a practicing Tibetan Buddhist and psychotherapist, and transformed the path of her life into one of great personal meaning.
Kim leaves behind her beloved and cherished daughter Erin Summer Kerfien (with Ryan), and her fabulous 14-year-old grandson Charlie, all of Charlotte, North Carolina, her father Robert of Florida, her brother Gregg (with Rebecca) of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, her former husband David Sunstrom of Seattle, Washington, her sweetheart Pascal Py of Vashon, Washington, and a community of loving friends.
