Naima Hill smiles with her daughter, Aveline “Avy” Hill, during coffe shop outing. Avy was 22 months old when she was killed in a car crash near Wichita Falls in 2023.
Photo courtesy Naima Hill
Dallas mother Naïma Hill still remembers the small ways her daughter stayed close.
Aveline Lucille Hill, Avy for short, followed her into the bathroom. She wanted to be wherever her mother was — even if that meant eating breakfast on the bathroom floor while Hill got ready.
Hill called her a “barnacle baby.”
Avy was not yet 2, but Hill said she already had a full personality: bright, attached, outdoorsy and stubborn in the way toddlers are when they are becoming themselves.
“She was her own human already,” Hill said.
A trip to visit family in Oklahoma three years ago ended in a crash that killed Avy before her second birthday and changed Hill’s reality forever.
Aveline “Avy” Hill poses for a photo. Her mother Naima Hill, has since launched Avy”s Sunshine Tribe in her honor.
Photo courtesy Naima Hill
Years later, Hill is still saying her name. Now the mother is inviting others in Dallas to say the names of the people they miss, too.
Hill and her nonprofit, Avy’s Sunshine Tribe, created Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival, set for June 20, 2026, at City Park in Dallas, a free family event where children and adults can decorate and fly kites in honor of loved ones they lost.
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The Hill family vehicle is seen after a crash near Wichita Falls in 2023 that killed 22-month-old Aveline “Avy” Hill.
Photo courtesy Naima Hill
The third-annual festival in June will allow families to make art together, eat, listen to music with a live DJ, and find a community space to gather.
For Hill, the festival isn’t a way to move on; it’s her way to keep loving Avy.
“I don’t ever want people to sugarcoat the loss,” Hill said. “It’s horrible. I’m not turning anything into anything. But Avy was full of sunshine, and I want to focus on that.”
A trip that never happened
Hill said she still remembers the details of the drive that changed her reality for life.
In May 2023, Hill and her family were preparing for an overseas trip. They planned to fly to Paris, visit relatives in Europe, and later travel to Tunisia, where part of Hill’s family is from.
Before the trip, Hill, her husband and their children were driving from Dallas to meet her parents halfway near Wichita Falls. Her parents, who lived in Amarillo, were going to take the family dog, Kemosabe, while the Hills traveled.
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The Hill family vehicle is seen after a crash near Wichita Falls in 2023 that killed 22-month-old Aveline “Avy” Hill.
Photo courtesi Naima Hill
Hill remembers the morning as unhurried. They stopped for coffee and gas. They made their way slowly on U.S. 287. Then traffic stopped.
The Hill family dog “Kemosabe” peers into a vehicle window. He was killed along with Avy in a car crash near Wichita Falls in 2023.
Photo courtesy Naima Hill
Hill said the family’s car was hit from behind by a driver traveling 66 mph. Avy and Kemosabe were killed.
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Her son, Kade, survived. Hill survived. But the life she knew had not.
“There’s no good time to lose a child,” Hill said.
The crash led to a criminal case that lasted about two years, Hill said. The man who hit them was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Hill said a conviction does not bring closure.
“This is for life,” she said. “Every moment, I’m like, ‘she’s not here to see this. She’s not here to do that.’ ”
‘She was full of sunshine’
Hill uses the word sunshine often when she talks about Avy.
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Avy loved being outside. She had nicknames — “little scrappy,” “squirrel,” “jelly bean,” “jellyfish.” She was happy, Hill said, but also already sure of herself.
Stickers made by Naima Hill to honor her daughter on sale during the Bloom and Behold Mother’s Day event at City Park in Dallas, Saturday, May 9, 2026. Hill’s 22-month-old daughter, Avy, died in May 2023, along with her family dog, Kemosabe, in a car crash. The proceeds of the sticker sales go to building a playground park in the Cedars neighborhood.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Hill said she was excited to raise a daughter with that kind of spirit.
“I was so glad to be a girl mom,” Hill said. “I saw the spark in her, and I was like, ‘I’m not letting the world take that.’ ”
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After Avy’s death, Hill said she searched for people who talked about grief without trying to make it sound easier than it was. She didn’t want grief softened — or for people to stop saying Avy’s name.
She wanted something real. “I want to know the raw,” Hill said. “Don’t sugarcoat it.”
A festival built around remembrance
The idea for the kite festival came after Hill learned about giant kite festivals in Guatemala, where colorful kites are created in remembrance of loved ones.
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Naima Hill poses for a photo with her 7-year-old son, Kade, during the Bloom and Behold Mother’s Day event at City Park in Dallas, Saturday, May 9, 2026. Hill’s 22-month-old daughter, Avy, died in May 2023, along with her family dog, Kemosabe, in a car crash.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Hill imagined a smaller version in Dallas. Families decorate kites. They write names, memories and messages. Then they fly them.
“There’s a remembrance piece, but also a celebration piece,” Hill said.
Attendees at the 2024 Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival decorate kites in honor of loved ones.
Photo courtesy by Naima Hill
She wants families to have a place where grief is not treated as something uncomfortable or hidden — somewhere people can say the names of those lost without others looking away.
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The festival is also part of a broader effort to build community for families in Dallas, Hill said, adding that parents, especially those with young children, often struggle to find central places for connection, support and information.
“You need the most support,” Hill said. “Especially when you’re working.”
A place to gather
Hill said creating the festival, the nonprofit and a future playground in her neighborhood has given her a place to focus her love for Avy.
Donovan Hill in front of the photo spot made by Naima Hill at the 2025 Sunshine Kite Festival.
Photo courtesy of Naima Hill
The festival also helps support the nonprofit’s mission to build the first inclusive community playground in the Cedars neighborhood in honor of Avy.
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She rejects the idea that her daughter’s death became a “purpose.” The loss remains a loss. But Avy loved the outdoors. Avy loved light. Avy loved being close. Hill is building something around those things.
“I just want to focus on doing something good in my community,” Hill said. “I want to do events for free, for kids, for families, for people to come together.”
If you go
Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival
When: Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: City Park, 1515 S. Harwood St., Dallas
Cost: Free
More information: AvysSunshineTribe.org