CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Hurricane Ian brought with it forceful winds causing mass destruction, but for some, it also brought a sense of peace after a memorial bench for Kelly Ann Huitema was found.
The sidewalks in Jaycee Park are lined with benches, all of which families have dedicated to their loved ones, no longer with us.
That is the case for Kelly Ann Huitema. She was just 37 years old when she passed away.
“They just assumed they would never have to lock it down, the water actually came up to the top of those bushes from what I understand,” Denali Riley said. “So it just picked it up and took it across the way.”
During Hurricane Ian, Riley came across Kelly’s bench, but it was not in Cape Coral.
“We were cleaning up with everybody else, I looked over and it was sitting there like it was supposed to be there,” Riley said. “Upright, facing the river in between two trees and pretty bushes just like she was always supposed to be there.”
Kelly’s bench started at Jaycee Park. But with the force of Hurricane Ian, it dragged it all the way to the Riverside Beach Condos.
That means it floated for more than a mile across the Caloosahatchee River.
“She was so resilient she would take whatever life would throw at her with a big smile on her face she would just ride those waves,” childhood friend Brandon Kneeld said.
Much like the journey her bench took.
Kneeld said it was not until he opened Facebook on Friday that he learned of Kelly’s bench.
“I was unaware that the bench was there, and I don’t think many of our friends did either,” he said. “So this was a blessing for us to find out that there was this spot.”
Within 30 minutes, Denali’s post had dozens of comments, most pointing them in the direction of where the bench is meant to be.
“We loaded it into our truck and drove it on over,” Riley said. “There is not a ding, there is not a scratch, there is not any sign that this thing went through a hurricane.”
Now, Kelly’s family locked her bench into place.
“I think for them to just be able to have it back in the spot of where they put it, where it was supposed to be for Kelly, is huge,” she said.
And friends like Brandon said they know of a peaceful place they can now visit her when they are home in Cape Coral.
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