Alyssa Eden Eulenfeld

Alyssa Eden Eulenfeld, 48-year-old daughter of Christine and Lindy Eulenfeld, sister to Aaron (Iriabel, Jake, Camilla, Iliriana and Benjamin).  Sister to Bryant (Tara, Anna, Blakely and Calder). Aunts and cousins, Susan, Tanya, Beverly, Lenora, Linda, Ed, Frankie, Trish, Wendy, Stephanie and Donnie.

Alyssa passed away on September 10, 2023.  She had family, friends, and loving caretakers at her bedside non-stop for the last two days of her life comforting and consoling her.  Thank you to her caretakers Queen, Leslie, Alta, Shannon, Virginia, Delores, Randy, Christy.  To family friends, Nathan and Noelle.  

Thank you God for giving us this beautiful person to be a part of our lives.  We are forever grateful to have had the opportunity to be her family.  She taught all of us new strengths as we helped her through her life.  We could not have done what we did for her without the family, friends, volunteers, caretakers, and others who helped make her life as wonderful as possible.  There are too many to name.  May Alyssa be remembered for bringing so much love into the lives of everyone who knew her. 

Thank you to Dr. Stephen Lazoff, her pediatrician, who took a special interest in her care and helped us through many challenging times throughout her life.  

Thank you to Isle Health Care staff for the care they provided for Alyssa.  Thank you to Hospice, to her nurse Claire and her caretaker Venus who brought care, love and fun to her.  Thank you to Sabrina who went with me for months to the hospital during Alyssa’s recovery to start her morning with massage, breakfast and picking out some cute clothes for day.  Together we chose decorations and decorated her room to make it look like home.

She loved everyone in her life and always came into a room with a huge smile and greeted everyone “Hey Guys!”.  She blew kisses to everyone she knew.

Alyssa was born with developmental disabilities but that did not stop her from participating in all areas of life.   

She was one of the first developmentally disabled kids to start awareness of inclusion of children with disabilities and go to day care, school, scouts, camps, community activities.   

While she never had the ability to walk, when she was young, she could crawl everywhere.  She loved going after her brothers and getting in the middle of whatever they were doing.  Especially breaking their Lego creations.  She loved getting junior mints from Bryant and flowers from Aaron.

She had adaptive equipment that we built to give her the opportunity to be as independent and included in as many activities as possible.  Playground swing, an all-terrain beach chair to walk on the beach and go into the ocean, a crawler that held her securely to move around outside with neighborhood kids.  She loved her Dad, Lindy, dropping her off the diving board in her swim ring and going down the water slides at Wild Waters with him.  She especially loved Jimmy Buffett’s music and dancing with her Dad.  

Alyssa went to Clay County Schools and graduated from Middleburg High School.  In order to attend classes that fit her needs, she needed a personal aide who would attend class with her and two teachers to accept her and to adapt their programs to her needs. Thank you, Patty Columbia, Mary Beth Radigan and Matt Cox for giving her those experiences.  

She participated in the Doman Delacado patterning therapy for several years in hopes of increasing her physical and mental capabilities.  Volunteers (50 people a week) were recruited from churches, high schools, Women’s groups, local firefighters, police and of course family and friends.  Thank you to all the volunteers who spent time with our daughter; they enhanced her life and ours and she enhanced theirs with her winning smile and great attitude.  Alison, Carolyn, Betty and Fran were some of her most faithful patterning partners.

After her entry to the Health Care Center, Andrew provided massage therapy 2 times a week to relieve the pain she was experiencing.   She also had PT provided by Deb and Lori twice a week for 20 years.  Thank you Andrew, Deborah and Lori.

Alyssa influenced many of the individuals that came to know her.   Numerous people told us they chose their occupation as special education teachers, speech pathologists, nurses and occupational and physical therapists because of knowing Alyssa.  Thank you Leigh Ann Wickstrom Townley, who won Special Education Teacher of the Year three times.  She quoted her friendship with Alyssa as the deciding factor on what she wanted to do in life.  

Alyssa had many friends and caretakers to assist her in life.  They took her shopping, to concerts, movies, ball games and many other activities.  She loved her time with these friends.  Thank you Sherkina Roberts, her friend for the Saturday shopping, lunches and Alyssa’s favorite red velvet cupcake dessert.

One of her most favorite activities in life was the “I am Special Camp” A weeklong overnight camp at Marywood for disabled children that provided as normal an experience as possible for disabled children.  She had teenage volunteers assigned solely to Alyssa all week to take her swimming, boating, horseback riding, and many other activities.  She never wanted to leave!   Thank you, Noelle for being her volunteer!  Thank you to the Diocese of St. and all of the volunteers that made it happen.  We are very grateful for her experiences.

Alyssa attended the “Daystar” disabled adult program at the Barco Newton YMCA for almost 20 years.  She absolutely looked forward to it every day and she was one of the staff’s favorites at the program.  She was always excited to be wheeled around in the gym and greet the regulars. She loved blowing kisses to everyone.  She loved to be the center of every activity and never met a stranger.   Thank you Matt, Flo, Frankie, Colleen, Yvette, June, Julie, Rebecca and others who came to know her and love her. 

lieu of flowers, we ask that Donations be made to I Am Special Camp and the Day Star Program to assist them in continuing their work for the disabled.  Thank you, The Eulenfeld Family

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