James-Garret Kanuwodi  Amayi-Kelley

(Waters)

August 31, 1983 - November 28, 2025

James-Garrett Kanuwodi Amayi-Kelley was born at home on August 31, 1983, in Tucson, AZ, to Elizabeth G. Bunker and James A. Kelley. The monsoons arrived the day of his birth after a long drought. His middle name, Kanuwodi Amayi—Healing Waters in Cherokee—became his lifelong name to many: Waters.

He grew up at Windancer Ranch in the Cochise Stronghold, where the beauty of the canyon rooted in him a deep love of nature. In childhood, he moved to Glastonbury, CT, though he continued to spend significant time at the ranch and returned there throughout his life.

James-Garrett graduated from Glastonbury High School and Central Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education. In Glastonbury he found “his boys,” a tight-knit group of friends he cherished as family. His first great loves were his dogs, Sage and Raja, and he adored their offspring. He is survived by the daughter Princess and granddaughter Duchess.

In 2007 he traveled with his father to Colorado to see Further at Red Rocks. His father called an old friend Florian, who brought James future mother in law, setting in motion the next great chapter of his life.

In 2010 he moved to Colorado to pursue a career in the legal cannabis industry. It was there his first date with Coral Hackler was arranged by their parents. The two first lived in Wondervu, CO and he took a position as a snowboard instructor at Eldora Mountain Resort. It was there he met a group of friends who later joined “his boys” as groomsmen. Their next adventure was working as raft and zip-line guides for River Riders in Harpers Ferry, WV. They moved back to Colorado that winter opting for more terrain at Copper Mountain Ski Resort. 

They dreamed of sustainable living and moved to Windancer ranch in 2012. He worked alongside his father to restore the family home. He began to live life by the motto "Minimize my carbon footprint, maximize my human imprint". He worked tirelessly growing their own vegetables and raising poultry. Waters often gave his time to assist elders and friends. 

He shared his fathers passion for art and set up his glass blowing studio, specializing in decorative marbles and pendants. 

Ranch life was tough and they eventually moved back to Colorado and found a dream job as caretakers of Joyful Journey Hot Springs in the San Luis Valley. It was close to there at Cotton Creek that they married under the Perseid meteor shower with over 200 friends in attendance in 2015. 

They moved back to Leadville, Colorado and for one summer lived in a tipi at 10,000 ft. It was there he starred on the TV show Building Off the Grid: High Altitude Hideout. In 2018 they spent winter in Vermont working for Outdoor Gear Exchange. He came back to Boulder, CO and worked on a large CBD farm. They were enjoying city life but when COVID hit in 2020 they moved back to Windancer Ranch. During that time Waters acquired his Soil Food Web, permaculture design, and rainwater harvesting certifications and began his landscaping company SunWaters Soil Systems. 

In 2021 Waters became a leader in the AZ underground music scene, bringing community together despite the world shutting down. It was through throwing these musical events that he formed some of his closest bonds, what they called the Of the Love pride. 

Not all love stories have happy endings. They separated in 2023, and James returned to CT to be closer to "his boys". There he embraced new passions, biking, riding his One Wheel, and started a promising career in roofing sales.

In June 2025, he reconnected with Ashley McCabe and found love again. He embraced a fatherly role with enthusiasm, looked forward to teaching adventure sports to her son, Weston, and joyfully anticipated the birth of their daughter in May 2026. He took great pride in purchasing what he believed was the safest car on the market for his growing family.

On November 28, 2025, James-Garrett left us for the astral plane after a tragic car accident in that new car a few days later.

His passing has sent ripples of grief across the many communities he touched. He often said he hoped his death would help bring people back together. The tattoo on his right wrist—“remember why you came”—remains a message to all who knew him: a reminder that our purpose is to spread love.

Waters built community wherever he went. His humor, warmth, eloquence, and adventurous spirit drew people together. Friends often joked that he could have been a cult leader, given his gift for inspiring and motivating others. He was unwaveringly loyal, the first to offer help, and the friend people called when they needed guidance.

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8 entries.

Coral Amayi from Longmont wrote on January 2, 2026 at 5:10 pm

My Eulogy for Waters' Water’s wasn’t just someone who told stories; he was one of the greatest storytellers to ever walk this earth. He loved to tell stories, yes, but more than that, he loved to make them. If you spent five minutes with him, you were suddenly woven into one. One of our favorite words from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is sonder—the realization that every person you pass has a life as rich, complex, vivid, and intricate as your own. That in someone else’s story, you might be nothing more than an extra, or a passing light in their window. But Waters? Waters was never an extra. Waters was a character—and we all know it. He was a main character to everyone in this room. He played more roles in one lifetime than most people dream of. He was a son, a brother, a brother, a friend—many people best friend—a boyfriend, and my husband. He was a student, a teacher, an apprentice and a mentor. A cannabis cultivator, a plant geneticist, a snowboard instructor, a salesman, a landscaper, a builder, a mycologist, a glassblower, a hot springs caretaker, an arborist, a sanitation specialist… and lastly on his death certificate, a roofing inspector. He was the shaman-sage. He was the charismatic cult leader we all teased him about. He was a joker, a smoker, a midnight toker—our space cowboy and a gangster of love. He was a mover, a shaker, and a breaker. He was a trickster, a party anima-l a Tigger to be precise l , a mischief maker—and yes, sometimes he could be an asshole too. But every version of him came from the same place: a heart that ran deep. Emotionally, Waters wasn’t a bowl or a cup—he was the ocean. Vast and unpredictable. Wild and tender. Capable of holding more love, more chaos, more humanity than any single person should. He didn’t just love you—he loved with you. He could touch your heart, flip your perspective, challenge you, change you, and make you want to be better. His mission was simple: minimize his carbon footprint and maximize his human imprint. His intention was literally written on his skin—tattooed on his right wrist for every handshake: “remember why you came.” To him, that meant to teach everyone he met to be a being of love. He joked for years that he was shocked he survived past 30—and then again at 40. Some part of him was always knew he wouldn’t be an old man. We discussed his funeral many times and this is exceeding his expectations! But he lived. God… he lived. There’s another word from that same book: gnosienne—the private, untranslatable story that forms between two people. Every one of you has a gnosienne with Waters. Your own chapter. Your own universe with him in it. And now comes mine. Because to me, Waters wasn’t just all those roles. He was my husband. My bestest friend. My mirror, my cuy, my partner in crime, my home. We were two rivers that became one. My mathematical brain once calculated it: for 29.8% of the days he walked this earth—33.4% of my hours—he walked beside me, woven into the fabric of my world. Our gnosienne was deep, complicated, beautiful. No one has ever known me the way he did. And still, whole parts of him—entire galaxies of experience—will remain beyond my reach. That is the heartbreak of love: how the closest person to you can hold universes you will never see. But I knew the essence of him. I knew his laughter—the real one, the chest-deep one. I knew his softness, the tenderness behind the bravado. I knew the dreams he whispered only in the dark. And he knew me in a way no one else ever has. That was our story. Our gnosienne. And I will carry it for the rest of my life. Love you forever in all ways always

Ryan Trump wrote on December 20, 2025 at 12:53 pm

Coral’s eulogy was perfect. I was always blown away by how present and open James was with me and with everyone he came into contact with. When he worked for me in Colorado, he easily could have hated me. He didn’t. If anything, he did the opposite. He went out of his way, truly out of his way, to stay connected. He made time for me and for my wife, even when we were states apart. Through all of it, he was always present. I shared an incredible five-course meal with him in a haunted mansion in Illinois. I trusted him with the lives of people I love while hanging on the sides of mountains in Colorado. He even shared COVID with me in Tennessee, bouncing kombucha off the ceiling of my kitchen. Those moments sound wildly different, but to me they all say the same thing. James showed up fully present whenever I was with him. That’s how I’ll always remember him.

Cody Walters from Tucson, AZ wrote on December 12, 2025 at 6:47 pm

For the last 4-5 years or so, I've been hearing the legend of the Great Waters. A guy with brilliant ideas (from Vicuna Matata to "if not you, then who?"). That is also funny, kind, charismatic, the list goes on and on. The kind of guy that is the light of the party and would give you the shirt off his back. The friend I had to meet. Being a lifelong bestfriend of Justin Hoffman, he kept telling me that I needed to meet he and Melissa's friend, Waters. I feel very blessed that I was able to finally meet Waters this August/September when we spent 10 days together in Costa Rica with a beautiful tribe of friends and family. Waters and I formed a forever and spirtual bond on that vacation. He and I were usually the last people up so we had very deep conversations during our time at Pachamama. We were both Virgos that grew up in the desert and through our hours long conversations we discovered that his ancestor (Sheriff Pat Garrett) staked out and killed Billy the Kid in my ancestors home (Pete Maxwell). "Peace amongst ancestors" we said as we we laughed and hugged. I truly admired his values and his spirit. His love for humanity and earth have inspired me to be a better person. To do the right thing and think of future generations and those who are less fortunate. Throughout that entire trip he never stopped dancing, he was our hype man. He had a huge heart and I was looking forward to hanging out with him in Connecticut as well as here in Arizona to explore our newly found bromance. My thoughts and prayers go out to Waters family and his loved ones. It's heartbreaking that his daughter will never get to know him, because she is missing out on a realationship with a beautiful soul. With that being said, I'm happy that his spirit will live on through her as well as his family and loved ones. Forever ottering. <3

Space Gravey wrote on December 6, 2025 at 11:07 pm

Water was a beautiful human who was always full of life. He guided many of my friends through their darkest times. Ill never forget all the memories we made hosting events and helping people. Peace be with you on your journey brother you will be missed.

Christina Leon from Tucson wrote on December 6, 2025 at 2:03 pm

I had the pleasure of meeting and bonding with waters in the arizona desert in the music scene. I will always remember the love and help that he gave me that i didn't know i needed but has helped me become a better person to this day.

Laura jayne from New York City wrote on December 6, 2025 at 11:02 am

James moved through this world with a kind of wild grace that is hard to name. He never took small bites of anything. He wanted the whole moment, the whole table, the whole room, and somehow he made space for everyone else while he did it. He was everyone’s favorite flavor, slipping through every circle, every crowd, every season like he belonged to all of us. He could break up a fight with a look, calm a storm with a joke, and lift heaviness before anyone realized it was there. He carried people without making it feel like weight. He brought light into places that forgot they deserved it. He lived big, loved big, and left behind echoes that will keep moving through the people who knew him. His absence does not feel quiet; it feels like a world missing one of its brightest sparks. My deepest love and condolences to the family. His spirit will not be forgotten

Jon Weed from Leadville wrote on December 6, 2025 at 3:07 am

James and I began our journey as friends working at Copper Mountain. James showed everyone how to have a huge heart and be an ever evolving best version of themselves. He was passionate about people, plants, animals and energies. James knew how to have excellent, meaningful conversations and truly original ideas. He is a soul I feel blessed to have shared paths with and will be thankful to see him someday on the other side. Thank You James

Debby West from Longmont, Colorado wrote on December 6, 2025 at 1:18 am

I first met James when he came to Colorado with his father for a Phil Lesh show at Red Rocks, and from that very moment he felt like family. James was someone whose kindness and generous spirit lit up every space he entered. We shared many adventures together: hiking mountain trails, skiing/boarding fresh powder, rafting, tubing, camping, and fishing. He and Coral took me zip-lining when they were instructors. James loved the outdoors and the earth with his whole soul, and he loved people just as deeply. He gave himself fully to his friends, his community, and anyone who needed a guiding word or a gentle presence. To me, he wasn’t just a son-in-law; he was a son of my heart. His beautiful, loving spirit will be missed beyond words.