Hunter Chamberlain: taken too soon

A young man who arrived in Canada with four siblings and little more than what they carried on their backs was remembered Saturday for his boundless energy, work ethic, and his love of cars and food.

About 250 friends and family members attended a memorial service for Hunter Chamberlain, who died with Victoria Whitehead and their two-year-son Bentley in a Feb. 6 crash on Highway 69 near Parry Sound.

"You and your family were taken too soon," Hunter's older brother Spencer told the service, held at The Summit at 424 Second Line East.

Spencer told how a mutual love of cars connected him to his kid brother Hunter for most of their life.

Massive Matchbox, Hot Wheels collection

It began with racing radio-controlled cars.

The brothers also accumulated a massive Matchbox and Hot Wheels collection, so many cars they'd get into arguments about which toy belonged to which boy.

Eventually, Spencer moved out to start work as an apprentice mechanic.

For a time, the brothers more or less dropped the connection.

"Hunter was still a rebellious teenager. I would only see Hunter two or three times a year at Christmas and on birthdays," Spencer recalls.

But still, there was one thing that always connected them.

"If I hadn't seen Hunter for three or four months, I could sit down next to him and just start talking about cars. Cars were just one of the pieces of the puzzle that held us together as brothers through time and through distances."

Mister Transmission

The auto-loving brothers ended up working together at Mister Transmission.

"I'm glad that in the last year of his life, I got to work and reconnect with my brother again," Spencer said.

"We would work together all day, making jokes, talking about life, talking about cars."

Hunter Ryan Chamberlain would have turned 21 next Sunday.

He was an American who entered the world on Feb. 25, 1997 at a hospital near Syracuse, New York.

"He was born at 11:59, just in time for lunch. And so his love for food began," Spencer chuckles.

Indeed, when Hunter wasn't toiling over cars, he was working at local eateries: Arturo Ristorante, Giovanni's Restaurant, Burger Don.

A reception following Saturday's memorial service was generously supplied by his former coworkers at Giovanni's.

'He showed me what work ethic was'

Spencer told other stories about 'rock wars' involving his brother, their gravel driveway and their mother's pot lids, which sported dents from being used as war-shields.

He talked about how you can learn stuff from a kid brother.

From the time Hunter, Spencer and their three sisters (Mikayla, Mandy, and Shenay) moved from New York to Sault Ste. Marie "with nothing but what was on our backs," Hunter was an incredibly hard worker.

The family had a driveway sealing business and Hunter was the only one small enough to get inside to clean out the tar tank.

"He showed me what work ethic was, and how far a little hard work could go," Spencer said.

Sister Shenay Chamberlain read a poem: "If love alone could save you, you would never have died."

Disappearing act

Karl Zwirner talked about his years as a youth pastor to Hunter, Spencer and Mikayla.

Zwirner remembered Hunter as a high-energy youth with a penchant for adventuring and wandering off.

Once, on a mission trip to build a church at Wunnumin Lake First Nation, Hunter worked very hard and then couldn't be located.

"They found him eventually. He was sitting in the outhouse....fast asleep," Zwirner said.

Liz Morin, who participated in the same trip, recalled marvelling at hard-working Hunter's ability to catch 40 winks in the back of a pickup truck, bouncing along unpaved roads.

"I thought he was faking.... He was right out cold, he worked that hard," Morin said.

'One of God's children'

Zwirner recalled Hunter going missing once at the Overflow Youth Conference, a large multi-denominational Christian event in Southern Ontario.

"I found him," Zwirner said. "He was up at the front with head down and tears streaming down his face.... He was definitely one of God's children."

Saturday's service was conducted by Pastor Jeremy Murdoch, who announced that a memorial for Victoria Whitehead and Bentley will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, those attending Hunter's memorial were asked to consider donations to the Canadian Biliary Atresia Registry through the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation.

Bentley was being treated for biliary atresia, a relatively rare, lifelong liver disease.

The trio died while returning to Sault Ste. Marie from an appointment at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

Recognizing Hunter's service as an army cadet, Spencer Chamberlain and family friend Bill Crockford folded an American flag at Saturday's memorial and presented it to Hunter's mother, TerryAnn Chamberlain.