Raven Michelle Croy, 25, passed away on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, unexpectedly at Iowa Lutheran Hospital.
Raven was born on January 26, 1999, at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa to Tanya Marie Kuhns and Dustin Virgil Croy. Raven spent her entire childhood in the small town of Saint Charles, IA where she attended Interstate 35 Schools, where she graduated from in 2017.
During her middle school years, Raven played basketball (a short-lived career). Raven soon fell in-love with cheerleading and was a cheerleader from middle school all the way through high school. In addition to cheerleading, she joined the dance team and was in the art club.
After graduating high school, Raven attended Des Moines Area Community College where she was completing her associate's degree. She only had one semester left prior to her passing.
Raven had a love for animals which she turned into her career. Raven worked for Wag, a dog walking, sitting, and boarding company and she absolutely loved it. She would come home after a walk or a sitting and gush about the pet she was taking care of. She would video call her mother or sister to show them the pet she was taking care of.
Her love for animals extended to her personal life. Raven's personal pet entourage included her cats Moonshine (Moo-Moo), Mary-Jane (Mary), and Whiskey, her sister's cats that she tried to "steal" on a regular basis (Oscar, Katerina, Molly, and Pookie) and her beloved dog, Tobias Allen (Toby). Toby was the love of Raven's life. She adopted him when he was two months old while visiting her sister, Rebel, in North Carolina. It was love at first sight. Since then, they were combined at the hip. It was rare that they were separated. She took him everywhere she could and never stayed away from him for more than a few days.
Raven was such a unique and quirky person. She had this special laugh that could make you laugh anytime that you heard it. Her older sister once poked fun at her laugh where Raven replied with, "I don't care what you think of my laugh. It's authentic." And that is who Raven was.. authentic. She never pretended to be anyone other than herself. And she made no apologies for it. She never lets negative opinions of others affect her. She never held onto anger or resentment. She would always say that life was too short for that, and she was right.
Raven was kind, caring, and full of love. Raven was always there for her friends and family no matter what. She was a good listener, no matter the time of day or night. She would do everything in her power to be there for those she cared about and there were many. She had so many wonderful friends and family that she made sure to stay in touch with, even when life sometimes got in the way. She was the type of friend that you could reach out to after an extended period of time of not talking and it would be as if that time apart never existed.
Raven had many joys and interests in life. She loved anime, her favorite show being One Piece. She watched all 1,000 episodes all the way through and proceeded to re-watch the show again, getting through more than half of the episodes again before her passing. Her face would light up if you mentioned anime and she could talk to you about it for hours. Her knowledge was vast and even if you did not like anime yourself, by the end of the conversation, she would have had you intrigued.
She had a love for reading, her favorite author being Nicholas Sparks. Raven had a large collection of books. She had hoped one day she could convert the shed in her mother's yard into a tiny library.
She loved Marvel, specifically Captain America and the Winter Soldier. She had a vast collection of comic books and could spend hours in Jay's CD and Hobby looking at all of the comic books they had. She enjoyed going to Antique and Thrift stores so she could browse their comic book collections, as well.
She loved gaming. Many nights, she and her best friend, Michael, would stay up late playing video games and watching anime. She loved a variety of video games and board games. Some of our best memories with Raven were family game nights playing a board game or Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch.
Raven was the light in everyone's lives. She brought so much joy and peace to her family and friends. She is going to be missed by everyone that was blessed to have had her in their lives.
Raven is preceded in death by her grandfathers; Bob Kuhns & Tommy Riddiford, her great-grandparents; Bertha and Arthur Kleis, cousin; Brooklynn Kuhns, and other extended family.
Raven is survived by her mother; Tanya Marie Kuhns, father; Dustin Virgil Croy, sisters; Rebel Marie Kight, Reonna May Croy and Hunter Croy, grandparents; Bonnie Jean Kuhns, Mona Riddiford, & Gary Croy, uncles; Robert Kuhns & Richard Kuhns, aunts; Jennifer Kuhns, Lana Kuhns, & Tanya Snyder, her best friend Michael McNeary, and her beloved animals; Toby, Moo-Moo, Mary, and Whiskey.
There will be a Celebration of Life planned at a later date.