She was only 43, and we were friends for 20 of those.
I only just learned the truly gutting news that Jamie Hemmings, nee Kreiser, has died.
The news was shared by her brother, Justin:
Some horrible unexpected news today…. My sister, Jamie Hemmings has passed away. I don’t have the words nor do I know what happened. All I know is that our family is heart broken. She was only 43 years old.
I feel numb.
Just last summer, she made sure to visit with me here in Toronto, when she was in town with her husband, Martin, and son, Liam. The same as I made an effort to visit with them when they were stationed in Ottawa, in 2015.
Over the years, through the postings of Martin in the Canadian military, they lived in Florida, Ottawa, New Mexico, Winnipeg, and, most recently, Colorado Springs, Colorado. I might have missed a few.
We corresponded regularly. In her last message to me, she noted apologized (so very Canadian) for not getting around to the review of the Dark Match movie. It was right up her alley, horror and wrestling.
“Sorry I’ve been going through a lot,” she wrote.
Knowing her past history battling mental illness, I replied, “Your health comes first.”
Jamie was among the bravest writers I have ever had the privilege of working with, mentoring, encouraging, loving.
Her piece on the death of Tom Cole of the WWF ring boy scandals revealed this eye-opener:
After our call had finished, I honestly broke down. As someone who has struggled with my own mental health issues and experienced molestation as a child, that was one of the most difficult and gut-wrenching conversations I’ve ever been a part of in my life. I don’t know the specifics of what happened to Cole, sadly we most likely never will as Garvin, Phillips and Patterson have all died. But what I am certain of is that SOMETHING horrible happened to him. Someone hurt him. Someone abused him. And Cole never recovered.
There were countless examples of that.
She became a best friend of Barry Orton, and his death in 2021 really hurt her.
Good luck reading Mat Matters: My friend Barry Orton and not crying.
Her three pieces he did on Barry Orton’s life and times were automatics in my mind when we published SLAM! Wrestling: Shocking Stories from the Squared Circle.
I trusted her writing and ability to get stories out of people so much that, years ago, we had embarked on a book about women’s wrestling, meant for the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series I had already started with Steve Johnson. I wanted a female voice. Though that book never came about, the interviews with so many names of the past were conducted, some of which lived on in Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women’s Wrestling by Pat Laprade and Dan Murphy (two other dear friends who I appreciate).
There will be more on our love and appreciate for Jamie at SlamWrestling.net, but on a personal basis, she was a dear friend, and I weep for Liam and Martin, and her whole family.
Never have the words “She Will Be Missed” meant more to me.
I’ll miss you, Jamie.
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