this is from his wife, Anita.

my sweet Eric was only 22 years old when he passed away. He had a genetic condition called Marfan Syndrome. We only recently found out about his condition due to our son being diagnosed. Now we are waiting for our daughter’s results to come in.

We got together at 17 years old, not even two days after we got together we moved into together. We never spent more than 8 hours apart but we were always texting. We have been through everything together. at 19 years old, we had an angel baby. We were so heart broken. And lost.

Feb. of 2023, we found out pregnant with our little girl, Ophelia Brooke. Eric was so excited to be a girl dad. He wanted his little girl. She was born in September of ‘23. He cried soon as she was laid on my chest and he grabbed her little finger and held it. He cherished Opie. He was an amazing dad. Then we got pregnant with our son, Damien Ernest Lee. He was again so excited because he always wanted a boy so he came him Damien Lee but we added Ernest for my father. We welcomed our son in January of ‘25.

No one was expecting to lose Eric. Especially the way that we did. He was amazing person. He loved animals, video games, drinking monsters, playing with our children. He always talked about doing everything with his children that we didn’t get to experience as kids. We were planning to get legally married next week because we wanted to. We were tired of waiting. To anyone who really knew Eric as a person and for who he was, he always introduced me as his wife, his old lady. He was my husband and my whole world along with our children.

Eric Lee Shumaker

06/23/03 - 8/8/25

forever an amazing father to his beautiful children and husband.