Casper Woman Survives Son’s Suicide By Keeping Others From Theirs

CASPER — In many ways, the Hunter family relives June 3, 2015, over and over as some kind of cruel script for their own version of “Groundhog Day.”

It’s a date branded on the heart and souls of Jenny, James and Cortney that’s chained them to a loss so great and pain so deep that answers and hope seemed nearly out of reach.

“Our son J.R. was a hunting guide in Wyoming, he owned Godfather's Pizza, he was an outdoor photographer of wildlife and scenery,” said Jenny Hunter. “He ended his life on June 3 of 2015. He had suffered from depression and had a small stent with kidney stones and medication and that type of thing. After we lost him, we did not know how we were going to survive.

“How were we going to travel this road? What do we do?”

The answer would come through divine intervention, Jenny believes.

For the Hunters, it’s about making J.R.’s death mean something and carry on their son’s legacy with something worthwhile in the world.

That’s when they started J.R.’s Hunt For Life to give people from around the world who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts an ear to listen and hope that will get them to tomorrow.

As someone who spent a lot of time consoling crime victims for much of her life as a police department first responder, Jenny said she is wired in a way to want to help others.

Divine Intervention

When her son took his life, Jenny said her own sense of despair and pain over the loss was overwhelming.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. Did I want to survive this? It was so painful that you don’t want to live with it. It’s just pain from your soul. The same with my husband and our daughter, his sister,” she said. “I am a believer, and I believe it was a divine dropping on me of what to do.”

She believes God wanted her to help others deal with suicide and try to prevent the next person in depression from taking his or her own life. Doing that would require a Facebook page because when people are depressed, they turn to phones or computers and stay in their houses, not wanting to socialize with others.

So that same year her son lost his battle with depression, Jenny started a confidential Facebook page that requires one make a request to join. And that page now has administrators around the world available 24/7 to respond when someone in crisis reaches out.

“God gave me the name for it, J.R.’s Hunt For Life,” she said. “J.R. was a hunter and his last name was ‘Hunter,’ so J.R.’s Hunt, instead of being for animals, it was for life.”

Since launching the Facebook page, it’s grown to nearly 18,000 members.

‘I Am Doing The Right Thing’

The first time someone reached out in crisis, Jenny said her strategy was to let the person talk and “not to judge them” and then the person “went their way.”

She said she had second thoughts about whether she helped the person or not.

“Then I heard back from them that, ‘You saved my life. If you had not listened to me and talked to me and been available, I would not be alive right now,’” she said. “I was just beyond myself, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I am doing the right thing.’”

In addition to Facebook, the Hunters launched an in-person support group in Casper that meets monthly. Jenny also had the idea to distribute wristbands promoting the message to “stop suicide.” Hunter said she gives away about 5,000 every three or four years, all for free.

“They are around the world. They are in 100-some-odd countries and in every state in the United States,” she said. “People will just request them, and I will send them.”

J.R.’s Hunt for Life is a volunteer organization, and no one associated with it gets paid, Jenny said. But in 2017, she created a nonprofit around it because people wanted to donate, and the costs of the bracelets are about $15,000 a year.

There is no charge or fee for anything associated with the ministry because “you can’t put a price on life,” Jenny said.

‘Hope Is The Enemy Of Suicide’

Unlike most people who kill themselves, Jenny Hunter said her son had talked openly about wanting to take his own life, had sought counseling and taken medications. He lost friends over the issue because he was so open and transparent about his struggle.

“There is such a stigma surround this, depression and all of these things, that’s why people won’t talk,” she said. “But he was never afraid to talk about it, and he even paid for his own suicide prevention counseling. He went to a therapist in town.”

Hunter said her family did all they could “think of doing” to help him cope, but his openness did not prevent the family from experiencing their shock and loss.

What she has learned is that hope is the key.

“Hope is so important because the main precursor to suicide is the loss of hope,” she said. “So, I have coined the phrase, ‘Hope is the enemy of suicide.’”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.