Kelly Lynn Cronkhite

Kelly Lynn Cronkhite, 23, of Indianapolis, Indiana, passed away Monday, May 17, 2021.

Kelly was the most loving and compassionate person you could hope to meet, who did so freely and with depth. Kelly was beautiful inside and out.  She was strong, spoke her mind, believed in what was right, and had an amazing passion for helping others. She was a 2020 graduate of Indiana University, Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI) with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work (BSW).  She was a 2016 graduate of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis and attended elementary/junior high school at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Indianapolis, IN.

Kelly is survived by her parents, Robert and Karen Cronkhite of Indianapolis; sister, Amanda Cronkhite (Jacob Dombecki) and twin sister, Rachel Cronkhite; her best friend and soulmate, Austyn Ide; grandmother, Carol Cronkhite; and aunt, Suzan Bizzari of Knoxville, TN; and of course her cats, Milo and Jane.

Kelly as a young child enjoyed hunter/jumper horseback riding and playing volleyball on club and school teams.  She loved visiting coffee shops, and her favorite foods were cheese and pizza of any kind!  She was also a photographer and took many pictures (including many, many selfies!).  She liked traveling and loved visiting Chicago, IL and Sedona, AZ, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Kelly was also an avid animal lover.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, May 21, 2021 at Flanner Buchanan – Broad Ripple, 1305 Broad Ripple Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46220, with family and friends visitation from 2:00pm to 4:00pm and Service at 4:00pm.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Beacon of Hope Crisis Center in Indianapolis, IN or the Humane Society of Indianapolis, IN.

Please share any online condolences, messages, or memories to Kelly’s eternal tribute page below.

Beacon of Hope Crisis Center has also made a blog entry in memory of Kelly, which can be viewed here.

Below are also letters that were devoted and read to Kelly during her Memorial Service from her Mom & Dad, and her best friend and soulmate, Austyn Ide.

From Mom and Dad

Oh Kelly….  How we will miss you….

My mind goes back to one time when you were maybe 3 years old…  We were home and I went to find you and could not find you anywhere.  I searched all over the house, front yard, back yard…. Could not find you….  I even got some of the neighbors involved and we started to search the neighborhood.  Then, I can’t remember why, I went and looked in our dining room again and found you fast asleep under the dining room table.  Certainly was relieved to find you, but never could figure out how/why you fell asleep there.  You were always a great sleeper!

Now we will be looking for signs of you everywhere.  In music we will hear, places we will visit, movies we will watch, tattoos we will see, books we will read, your friends that we will run into and who will share stories they remember of you…  We will all hopefully take something from our time with you that will be with us for the rest or our lives and hopefully, we can help others in need that we meet, in the way you would have.

We are all on our own individual life’s journey.  We have all been fortunate that our life’s journey crossed yours.  Your Dad and I were blessed to be your parents and we have so many wonderful memories of you.  It was not always easy and we had our bumps in the road, but that is part of life too and we worked through them.

Kelly did struggle from anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and some depression.  Even with that, she was always willing to help others who were in need.

Kelly and I were out somewhere one day and just talking recently…  can’t even remember what subject was we were discussing, but Kelly said something to me that gives me some comfort now…  Kelly told me that if something happened and she died tomorrow, she said she had lived a good life, had many great times and friends and had no regrets.  I have no idea why someone at her young age could feel that way as in many ways, her life was just beginning.  But I am somewhat glad now to have this memory.

I just pray you know how much you were loved…. by your Dad, your sister’s Amanda and Rachel, by Austyn, Grandma and Grandpa and all the rest of the extended family, as well as your many, many friends.   You were a bright light in this world and even though your physical presence is no longer of this earth, your spiritual presence will live on in all you touched.  We pray that you are at peace.  We will see you again one day and until then, we will think of you often and enjoy the many memories we have of you.  Love Always…  Mom and Dad.

Kelly Lynn Cronkhite – Austyn Ide

I miss you more than words will ever be able to describe.  I’m so lucky to have gotten to know you.  I will never forget the day we met, the moment we laid eyes on each other and already knew we were meant for one another.  We wrote each other paragraphs constantly, only trailing off as we spent more time together.  You were my best friend, lover, companion, soul mate, and so very much more.  You were the world to me.  Just thinking of you made me happy and knowing I got to come home to you made it even better.  It wasn’t always perfect, but if felt like heaven to me.

Those that got to know you were very fortunate; you weren’t an open book to just anyone, but if you were lucky enough, she was a true friend for life and it was shown without hesitation.  She always looked out for others who needed here.  Her energy was so warm and it filled the room.

She was smart, strong, determined, fierce, and spoke her minds, but also kind, loving, empathetic, and incredibly thoughtful.  She loved to bike, ride horses, travel, art, decorating, nature, tattoos, cheese flavored anything, watching movies, or just to stay up late and chat.  She also loved panthers, tigers, and cats of all kinds, especially her two kitties Milo & Jane.  She was an environmentalist and an avid civil & LGBT rights supporter.  She majored in social services, most likely due to her amazing compassion and desire to help others, especially special needs and domestic abuse survivors.

Although I wish I could have had the lifetime of memories we would have made, I am so grateful for all of the ones I have to cherish of us, all the things we got to do together, and the smile I was able to put on your face.  It was the most beautiful smile, and I could never get enough of it.  I hope you’re smiling now looking down on us, happy to see how many people truly cared for and loved you.  Because we all did and still do, and never plan on stopping.

Even as lost as I am now, I know I’ll find my way again, because that’s what you would have wanted.  You would have wanted the best for all of use, to carry on but also to carry you with use with every action we make.  So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.  Because I’m never going to stop trying to make you happy, to always think of you smiling as we move forward.  You will be missed, loved, and never forgotten.  I love you so much sweetheart, I’ll see you again someday soon.