Jamee Balvin – Memories: God, Family, Friends and Country
Good morning and thank you for coming to memorialize my Sister Jamee Balvin. What a wonderful outpouring of Love. My name is Glenn Heidbreder and standing in support of our family is my Sister Babbi and my Brother Gregg. Seated in the front are my parents Jim and Babs Heidbreder, and Dale’s parents Doug and Marlis Balvin. The Bible says:
Be Strong and Courageous
Do not be Afraid or Discouraged
For the Lord, your God, will be with You.
I feel so honored to try to give you a glimpse into Jamee’s life, to share stories, and help you understand the incredibly caring, loving and energetic woman that was my Sister. While she was tragically killed in a car accident last Friday, and taken much too soon, her spirit and memory will live on through her loving and supportive Husband Dale, and her 3 wonderful and talented children Trevor, Tracee and Todd.
This past week has been utter devastation for me. While my heart is broken here on earth, as I am sure so many of you can relate, I know Jamee is finding her new home in Heaven. I have witnessed Jamee and Dales children maturing before my eyes this week and stepping up to the challenges to support one another through this recent tragedy to honor their Mothers legacy.
The outpouring of love that our family has received has been inspirational and overwhelming. We knew Jamee touched a lot of lives but this past week has been truly unbelievable. Without the support, encouragement, and love of you all, I don’t know how we would have made it through. Each of you has provided us with Strength. I would like for my sister Babbi to read a message that we received which is representative of the 100s of voicemails, texts and comments that our family has been blessed with.
(BABBI to speak)
Jamee grew up in Lake Forest Illinois with solid midwestern values taught by our parents, and spent quality time at our family vacation house on Legend Lake in Central Wisconsin. She was a caring and fun sister, always very athletic, a talented skier, swimmer and tennis player. I hate to admit it, but she may have been the most talented athlete in our family. She consistently beat me in swimming races, which I had conveniently forgotten, until my Mom reminded me this week.
Jamee moved with our family to Arizona in 1981 where she completed her schooling and later met the love of her life, Dale Balvin. Jamee was an excellent sales person and negotiator, but I don’t think she had to use either of these skills to convince Dale to stay by her side. She was a member of Ski Patrol and EMT certified. She was always adventurous and naturally charismatic. People just liked Jamee from the instant that they met her.
Jamee was extremely creative and a wonderful entrepreneur. Throughout her life she held many jobs such as House Cleaner, Pre-school teacher, massage therapist, road side salesperson and most recently the Owner and Founder of Great AZ Estate Sales. Her leadership skills and magnetic personality attracted hard working and energetic employees to assist in making her Estate Sales happen and her business a success. She was never afraid of hard work, or tackling a job that some people would find beneath them.
Jamee believed that:
Hard Work Pays off. Life’s rules were: Work Hard, Play Hard and Love one another. Never make excuses or play the victim. If you sometimes fail, which we all do, pick yourself up and figure it out. Rely on your resourcefulness and friends to help find a solution. She believed smart people can find the answer and the government should stay the heck out of my business! If today you are successful, that’s great. But then, get up tomorrow and DO IT again.
But on that journey, show acts of kindness, make someone happy, meet a new friend, and be there when you are needed! Jamee lived life right!
In Christ alone, my Hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
Jamee was a wonderful wife to Dale. She loved and respected her husband deeply. She was proud of his entrepreneurial spirit teaching many young people the love of the game of Golf. Jamee could often times be heard bragging about her gorgeous and skinny husband. She was totally unafraid to speak of her love for Dale. Jamee and Dale have strong family ties and are an integral part of our extended family. Dale and Jamee were adventurous together and found joy with one another, hiking, camping, Jeep touring, and most recently working out with a program called Cross Fit. Whatever Jamee did in life, she committed to it 100%.
As I said this past week has been the most difficult week of my life, but I am comforted by the support of family, friends and God. It seems that everywhere I have gone this week, I have met someone who was greatly influenced and positively affected by knowing Jamee. It was her love of life, her awesome smile, and her caring nature that really set her apart. Please take time to share stories of how Jamee positively impacted your life and use these as inspiration to make this a better world!
As we saw in Jamee’s life, The day that you die may start out like any other day. Everything seems normal. But then something happens. Although we may not understand it, God has a plan.
Life is short. Life is precious. Don’t be afraid to take the time to tell people who are important in your life how much they mean to you. Let people you care about, know that you love them.
In closing, I would like to paraphrase Zac Brown,
On the day that I die,
I want to say that I,
was a Woman who really lived, and never compromised.
And when I’ve lived out my days until the very end,
I did it with dignity, passion and friends.
Good bye Jamee. I love you, and we all loved you. You will truly be missed!
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