NORTHAMPTON — On June 12, 2016, a gunman opened fire in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. In the chaos, 49 people died.
Kimberly “KJ” Morris was one of them. Morris spent a decade in western Massachusetts. Now, a year later, her friends have set up a memorial scholarship in her honor.
“She was always there when I needed someone to talk to,” said Matthew Rist, who said he knew Morris, 37, for 13 or 14 years. “We wanted her memory to live on in the same way — helping people.”
Rist, 35, of Easthampton, said in a note on the scholarship’s GoFundMe page that proceeds will be donated to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, which will start the scholarship.
As of 6 p.m. Sunday, the effort had raised $440 of a $25,000 goal.
Rist said Sunday this last year without his friend has been “trying.”
“Everything just kind of reminds me of her,” he said.
Morris was working as a bouncer at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, when gunfire broke out a year ago. She had just moved to Orlando from Hawaii to be closer to family, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Morris was originally from Torrington, Connecticut, and moved to Massachusetts to take a job in the Amherst College student activities office.
Morris eventually started performing as a drag king, establishing a partnership with Diva’s Nightclub in Northampton.
“It was a really big deal to her,” friend Erica Hatoum told the Gazette last year. “When she got up there, she was able to be whoever she wanted to be.
At a vigil on Main Street in Northampton soon after the shooting, Aimee Fife, who said she was best friends with Morris, spoke to the crowd.
“It has not been easy, as I’m sure you can imagine, to see my best friend’s name and picture all over any channel that I see on TV,” said Fife, of Palmer.
Then, she forced a smirk.
“But knowing KJ, she would want to make light of it,” she continued. “So when I saw that Lady Gaga said her name, I know that girl screamed somewhere in excitement.”
Fife said the two would watch reality TV, eat pizza and drink Twisted Tea cocktails on Wednesdays. She said Morris’ favorite movies were “Lilo and Stitch” and “The Color Purple.”
Fife read the last text message she received from Morris in response to a picture of the two of them.
“We’re so cute,” KJ wrote. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Fife said she replied.
Jack Suntrup can be reached at jsuntrup@gazettenet.com.