She never let it go… and it brought her home when the river rose — 9-year-old camper Janie Hunt’s body found after Texas floods thanks to grandma’s tiny beaded gift Before the Fourth of July rains turned Camp Mystic into a tragedy that stole 27 lives, Janie Hunt clutched her grandma’s simple gift — a necklace of bright little beads spelling “Janie.” It wasn’t just jewelry — it was her comfort when the thunder rolled, her secret armor when homesickness crept in. When the floods hit and search teams combed the wreckage, it was that necklace — still snug against her heart — that told rescuers who she was. “She loved that necklace,” her grandma Margaret said through tears. “It kept her close to us, even in the water.” Now, the same beads that helped her family find her will rest with her forever — a reminder that this “really special little girl” loved life, loved everybody, and even the river couldn’t wash her away.
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NEED TO KNOW
- Jane Hunt, one of the at least 27 campers and counselors who lost their lives at Camp Mystic during the flooding tragedy in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend, is being remembered by her family
- Her grandma, Margaret Hunt, remembers the child and tells PEOPLE how the family was able to identify Jane’s body thanks to a special gift
- Jane, 9, “loved life” and “loved everybody,” according to her grandmother
A family is mourning their loved one who died during the Texas floods over the Fourth of July weekend — and also revealing how her body was able to be identified thanks to a special gift.
Jane Hunt was remembered by her grandmother Margaret Hunt as a “brilliant” and “precocious” child who “loved life” and “loved everybody.”
Margaret tells PEOPLE her 9-year-old granddaughter was also a big theater fan, and a necklace she gifted the child following a performance helped the family identify Jane after her death.
“She was in a play in May, and that’s when I gave her the little Janie necklace that she had on when they found the body,” Margaret says. “That’s how they knew it was Janie. She had on a necklace that, in beads, spelled out [her name].”
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Jane was one of the at least 27 campers and counselors who lost their lives at Camp Mystic during the recent flooding tragedy.
Margaret tells PEOPLE that Jane’s body was found alongside Camp Mystic owner Dick Eastland, who died in the floods while trying to save the lives of campers.
According to Margaret, it had been Jane’s first year at Camp Mystic. She wanted to attend the camp because “she wanted to be with her cousins,” whom she had been “very close” with, Margaret adds.
The grieving relative says Jane’s family later learned she had been a source of comfort for other campers while attending Camp Mystic before her death.
“We’re now hearing stories about how some of the other campers were homesick, and that Janie was counseling them and telling them not to cry,” Margaret says, adding of Jane: “She loved camp for the five days she was there.”
Jane was remembered in her obituary as “the heartbeat of her family,” who was “adventurous, kind and charitable” to others.
Her family added that she “will be remembered for her perpetual smile and the sheer joy she brought to everyone around her.”
Margaret says Jane loved art and wanted to be an artist when she grew up. She highlights how Jane was chosen from her elementary school class to show her artwork at an art show, where she submitted a “drawing of hearts” that she was “quite proud of.”
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Margaret says Jane also loved singing in her school’s choir, and her favorite song to sing was “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” which her cousins plan to sing at her funeral to commemorate her.
Jane’s parents, Davin and Anne Lindsey Hunt, are “taking comfort in small things, and the community has surrounded them with love,” Margaret tells
“It’s hard on them, of course,” she continues. “I tell people when they ask me what they can pray for, I say pray for strength for Davin and Lindsey, not today, but in the days, weeks, months and years to come, because they’re going to need it.”
Margaret adds that her family has been able to find joy in reading letters that Jane wrote while at camp, before tragedy struck.
“[Her letters] were all positive,” Margaret says, detailing that Jane’s messages read: “I love camp, I love my friends. I’m having a wonderful time.”
Jane is survived by her parents and siblings — a 7-year-old brother Henry and a 2-year-old sister Julia — as well as several cousins, aunts and uncles.
Her funeral is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, July 15.