The Oneida community is mourning the sudden and unexpected death of a beloved coach.
39-year-old Jami Huling died Monday of a possible brain aneurysm. That was two days after she was hit in the head by a foul ball, while umpiring at a charity youth baseball game.
Huling's longtime friends Tammy Wright & Jody Lay shared some of their countless memories with WBIR 10News Thursday afternoon.
"Everybody loved Jami because she was just such a funny somebody," Wright said, with Lay nodding in agreement. "You did never know what she was going to come up with, but she would always come up with something to make you laugh, to make you smile."
"She was never serious about anything. She was very high-spirited," Lay said. "She had more energy than anyone I'd ever seen."
While she didn't take herself too seriously, Huling was seriously dedicated to kids and the community.
"If you could not find her on the weekend, all you had to do was go into the gym, Boys and Girls Club, or on the softball field, a baseball field," Wright said.
Huling was a special education teaching assistant for Oneida schools.
An accomplished athlete herself, Huling went on coach basketball, softball and soccer at youth and high school levels.
She was assistant coach for the Oneida High School girls soccer team, whose members have now lost two coaches this year.
"She was there for our soccer team when their head coach passed away five months ago," Wright said. "She's always been there for them and tried to make them smile."
"Jami was a very selfless person," Lay said. "She was very giving."
She gave the most to her two kids - a daughter, who just graduated high school, and a rising sixth grade son.
The pair is now without a mother or a father.
"Jami lost her husband a few years ago," Wright explained. "Her two kids were always her life, but even moreso when her husband passed away."
Huling died so suddenly and so young.
"I'm going to miss her laugh," Lay said, tears welling in her eyes.
Her laugh - and her character - have forever shaped the hundreds of lives she has touched.
Huling's burial is at 9:30 a.m. Friday, at Hazel Valley Cemetery in Oneida.
A fund for funeral expenses and Huling's children is set up at First National Bank in Helenwood. People may send donations to First National Bank, P.O. Box 950, Helenwood, TN 37755.