of Battlefield, MO
July 22, 2009 - March 31, 2023
Shepherd Ilias Hudkins (רוע×'' ×'ן ×'רכ×'' - Shepherd, Son of Blessing) was born July 22nd, 2009 in Henderson, New Zealand. He spent the first eight years of his life exploring the countryside, swimming in the ocean, and playing with his friends at the West Auckland Homeschool group; such wonderful joy-filled days of rainbows and sunsets. He moved back to the United States in 2017 to be closer to family and cousins and grandparents, who he cherished. For a short time he lived in LA and again loved playing in the ocean with all his homeschool friends from Topanga Canyon. A brief stint in the Midwest, living with his grandparents and playing baseball, led on to nearly four years on Long Island, New York where he learned to ride horses, played soccer with the Manorville Mavericks and raced boxcars with the Boys Brigade. Two of his great joys in New York were the multiple Christian youth groups he fellowshipped with and the Christian summer camp in Norwich Massachusetts where he was the life of the party, getting others involved, singing at the top of his lungs and playing like crazy.
He goes ahead of his family to glory; Mother and Father Carrie and Bryan (Baruch) Hudkins, three siblings Karis, Joshua, and Aidan; his grandmother Irene Hudkins, and his grandparents Bill and Sherry Dye, along with many cousins, aunts and uncles and a worldwide network of friends and family.
He was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor on Dec 9th 2022 and peacefully went to be with Yeshua (Jesus) with his family around him singing and praising God on March 31st, 2023. He had a beautiful, sweet soul that never once complained throughout the ordeal. He continued to be thankful, praising God for all the people who cared for him and all the fun we had up until his last moments on earth. We will miss him as he starts his eternal walk with God and we cannot wait to hug him again.