A Maryland man is keeping the memory of his young neighbor—who lost his life to cancer—alive by incorporating his name into his Christmas light display. And he’s done it every year for over two decades.
Father of two Mike Witmer, 57, was born and raised in Maryland and works in land surveying. He is also a Christmas light fanatic who builds a big and bold display at his home every holiday season.
The story of how he came to include “Hi Kevin” in his Christmas lights goes back to the fall of 2002, when Mr. Witmer’s then-11-year-old neighbor, Kevin Mullen, was diagnosed with cancer.
“My kids were on the same swim team with him and his sister, and we basically just became friends with him and his family,” Mr. Witmer told The Epoch Times. “He was always kind of a jokester, seemed like he always wanted to make kids or people smile and laugh, even ... when he got sick. He was just a good spirit.”
When the holidays rolled out that year, Kevin was undergoing treatment at the Children’s Hospital. Mr. Witmer decided to add an encouraging message to his Christmas display for Kevin’s homecoming.
“The doctors told him he‘d be well enough to spend that Christmas at home,” Mr. Witmer said. “I just had this ... idea to write, ’Get well, Kevin,‘ in my Christmas light display. ... Kevin saw his name in lights and actually asked his Mom, ’Do you think Mr. Witmer will put my name in lights every year?'”
Hearing this, Mr. Witmer felt so warm that he agreed, adding, “Cancer stinks.”
Kevin went into remission, but every year from that moment on, Mr. Witmer added “Hi Kevin” to his Christmas display by painting two pieces of wood and placing them in different locations among the lights. “It was almost like my own little ‘Where’s Waldo?’ game with Kevin,” Mr. Witmer said.
One year, Mr. Witmer placed Kevin’s message on the moving seats of a Ferris wheel, leading to one of his favorite stories from Kevin’s mom.
“They drove through the court that year, and, of course, as luck would have it, the Ferris wheel was in motion where the ‘Hi’ and ‘Kevin’ [weren’t] visible,” Mr. Witmer said. “His mom tells us that he literally gets out of the car, stands in my driveway, like, ‘Hey, what the heck?’ and about that time, the Ferris wheel spins around and there’s the ‘Hi’ and there’s the ‘Kevin.’
He got a big old smile on his face, and it was almost like, ‘Hey, cool, everything’s okay in my world because my name is still here!’ He got back in the car, and they drove off. I really enjoyed that story,” he said.
When Kevin was 19 and had just finished his freshman year at the University of Maryland, his cancer returned.
“He fought through it before, so we just figured, ‘Oh, he can do it again,’” Mr. Witmer said. “[But] it came back more aggressively, and it did end up taking [his life].”
At this time, Kevin was a young adult. His losing his battle with cancer in June 2010, left everyone who knew him heartbroken.
Because of his connection with Kevin, Mr. Witmer was asked to speak at the funeral. At the end of his speech, he invited all the guests to visit his home at Christmas that year to see a bigger and brighter “Hi Kevin” sign.
“The tears started flowing,” Mr. Witmer said. “But that’s what I ended up doing, making a two-by-four, basically just made the letters to spell out ‘Hi’ and ‘Kevin,’ and I put lights on them and put them on my garage roof so they’re visible from Heaven every year.”
Kevin’s parents, who have now moved across the street, are “touched and moved” that Mr. Witmer has been keeping their son’s memory alive. In 2021, Mr. Witmer’s sweet display began catching the attention of the Christmas light community, too.
People have reached out to Mr. Witmer from as far away as Australia and England. Some have lost their own Kevin in life, and like to think that Mr. Witmer’s display is reaching out to their lost loved one, too.
“There’s a saying in the Christmas light world, and it goes, ‘In a world full of Grinches, be a Griswold,’” Mr. Witmer said. “The spin I would like everybody to take away from it is: No matter how small the gesture you may do for somebody, just try to be nice, you never know how much it’s going to mean to them and their family.”
On Dec. 5, 2009, the year before he passed, Kevin wrote a message to Mr. Witmer on Facebook. It read, “Your light display never fails to amaze me, Mr. Witmer ... you really are a classic ‘Clark Griswold.’”
