David Michael Hudson was born in Hinsdale, Illinois on January 21, 1997 to Mike and Wendy Hudson, their firstborn. He passed away on August 7, 2024 in Oak Park, Illinois. David grew up in Wheaton, Illinois with his brother Timothy and sisters Emily and Anna. As a child, David was often to be found with friends from school (Hawthorne Elementary) and church (Blanchard Alliance, later Wellspring Alliance). Summer vacations were always the highlight of the year, often spent traveling to see relatives in England or Colorado, where David loved to hike, visit castles, climb mountains and go on rambles with his grandparents. In 2011, David traveled with his father and brother to visit relatives in Australia, a big highlight of his teenage years.
David was a thoughtful, kind, funny and conscientious son, brother, and friend, looked up to by his siblings and friends. He was a joy to be around. He wasn’t immune to having some adventures, and one winter’s night, at the age of 15 or 16 when it was forecast to be 25 degrees below zero, he and his friend Micah decided to camp overnight in a tent in the snow in the backyard. Despite the bitter temperatures, the two boys had a great time sleeping outdoors on the coldest night of the year.
At an early age, David was a keen photographer, borrowing his photographer father’s cameras to take pictures on their summer holidays. He also had a passion for music, taking up the viola in fourth grade and playing at a high level until his freshman year in college. He got involved in sports early on too, playing in Park District soccer for several seasons, running cross country at Franklin Middle School and playing tennis and soccer at Wheaton North High School.
During his sophomore year of high school, he joined the gymnastics team and it was there he suffered a severe brain injury and concussion in a fall at one of the meets. Despite the injury seeming to be in the past, his cognitive abilities would later become compromised as he got older.
During David’s senior year at Wheaton North, he was named a Top 5% scholar and went on to do a Gap Year at Honey Rock Camp in northern Wisconsin, learning such skills as how to use a chainsaw and learning to ride a horse. In the Fall of 2016, he started attending Wheaton College. During his time there, symptoms from his brain injury increasingly affected his mental abilities, leading to difficulty in his studies and bouts of depression and anxiety. Before his senior year, he spent the summer in Europe, traveling with Youth Hostel Ministries, eventually staying in Norway for several weeks where he helped run one of the local hostels. During his senior year at Wheaton, COVID hit and he spent his last semester wrapping up his studies at home.
After graduating college, David moved to Chicago but struggled to find his way and in 2021, after much wrestling with who he was, he asked his family to begin calling him Michal and began to undergo changes which would eventually lead to him becoming Ava in the summer of 2022. She was eventually accepted into bus driver training at the CTA. The day she got her CDL driver’s permit in November 2023 was one of the happiest days of her later life and things finally started to take a turn for the better. She became a CTA bus driver in January 2024, a job she held until her death. She often called or texted photos to her family during breaks on her bus routes. Several moves in and around Chicago eventually led Ava to live in Oak Park in April 2024.
But life was never easy and she was often searching for her identity and who she wanted to become. She was able to make some special friends though who supported her and provided a peaceful home for her to live in when she needed it most, something her parents are eternally grateful for.
Despite many difficult years and lots of questioning who he/she was and would become, Ava remained a very much loved and important part of her family and in her last days, she came back to Wheaton to attend her brother Timothy’s wedding just four days before her death. It was a joy to see her back with old family friends, cousins, relatives and others.
Sadly, we’ll never fully know the reason for her death, but the pain left behind after her sudden departure has been acute. She has already been mourned by many, many friends and relatives across the globe. She will be very much missed and never forgotten.
A visitation will be held at Wellspring Alliance Church, 1766 S. Blanchard St., Wheaton, IL 60189, on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the funeral service 10:30 a.m. Burial will be held at Wheaton Cemetery.
