Summer Hunter passed away on January 6th, 2025, and our lives were changed. To truly understand how far Ms. Hunter went to serve people, you would have to know her. She was more than we believed she was. Ms. Hunter touched more lives in 47 years than many of us will ever in a lifetime. Her memorial was held at Page and I got the opportunity to attend and learn a lot more about who she was.

Educating was Ms. Hunter’s whole world. She began working for Guilford County Schools in 2006 at Aycock Middle School and was the curriculum facilitator Page when she passed. While at Page, she played a crucial leadership role in Team Voyage club since its creation in 2016. Ms. Hunter describes Team Voyage as a leadership initiative for African American males exclusive to Page High, that promotes academic investment in social capital through various opportunities including mg community engagement, social networking, and educational advancement. Many of the former Team Voyage members came to her memorial to either speak or just pay their respects to the woman they affectionately called Mama Hunter.

I was able to talk to some people who attended the memorial and ask them a few questions about Ms. Hunter. Isaiah Fisher-Smith graduated in 2020 and was a member of Team Voyage during his time at Page High School. He said “She was a great person and someone I confided in” and “You don’t see many white women pushing so hard to help African American males.” Others described her as pure, kind, giving, courageous, and a mentor, leader, mother, protector, encourager and so much more.

To know Ms. Hunter was to know love itself.  We were so lucky that she called Page her home and us her family. While Ms. Hunter’s impact reached far further than just Page, to us, she was ours. Seeing so many former Page students and Team Voyage members come to say their final goodbyes showed just how much she meant to our community. Thank you for everything you did for us, Ms. Hunter. Long Live Mama Hunter!