Argonauts pay tribute to ‘little angel’ Kristina Kingsley
The communities of Kitchener and Toronto are grieving for a bubbly eight-year-old girl who died in hospital on Thursday.
Kristina Kingsley, who was born with cerebral palsy, loved the Argonauts, and they loved her back.
“She was a part of our family, so we feel like a piece of us is gone,” said Jason Colero, the team’s director of education who organized hospital visits.
Kristina, who also suffered from scoliosis, died of lung failure in Kitchener’s Grand River Hospital. She had celebrated her eighth birthday April 3.
“We cherished it,” her father, Kevin, 41, said. “She was bubbly, outgoing, fun, laughing all the time. “She was a very happy child.” Influenced by her father, Kristina adopted the Argos as her love and joy. Kevin has been an ardent Argos supporter since 1999 and is part of the Argo Lifer group, who he described as “the crazy guys who pound on the drums.”
When Kristina attended her first Argo game in 2012, she was mesmerized by the activity, especially the cheerleaders and their pompoms. And one day, she met the most famous Argo of all: Michael (Pinball) Clemons. He sat down and started to chat.
“It was very special to us,” Kevin Kingsley recalled. And Clemons remembers her well. “What a magical little personality,” he said. “She was so brave, and she made you feel good when you were around her.”
During games, her dad would do a special play-by-play for her. And that led to her adopting quarterback Ricky Ray as her favourite player.
“There’s Ricky Ray . . . he’s going back to pass,” Kingsley would say in a play-by-play voice as the play developed. Kristina would watch Ray, and her excitement grew when she saw the ball sail through the air.
“Those are the precious moments I can take out of it,” Kevin Kingsley said.
Kristina could only make sounds, but her face was expressive. Early this year, her health took a downturn, and she was admitted to McMaster University Medical Centre.
Argo cheerleaders paid a visit to Kristina in January, presenting her with an autographed Ricky Ray jersey. Soon after, her face lit up as Argo players Wayne Smith, Chris Van Zeyl and Andre Durie came in and spent some time with her.
“That meant the world to her,” Colero said.
Kingsley and his wife, Sheryl, 44, also have a four-year-old son, Keegan, who has Down syndrome. He is deaf and uses a wheelchair.
Kingsley, a former truck driver, supports the family by working parttime at Habitat for Humanity in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. The family lives in a wheelchair-accessible house built by the community for Kristina.
Clemons called Kristina “a little angel who was taken so young because God needed help up there.”
Kingsley is thankful to the Argos, who “created another day where she was able to smile.”
Avisitation will be on Tuesday from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. at Westmount Funeral Home in Kitchener. The funeral is Wednesday at Calvin Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m.