Clifton, Kristin Huerta Obituary

Clifton, Kristin Huerta attended Horace Mann High School in Gary, IN. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Clifton, Kristin Huerta.

Graduation Year	Class of 1969
Date of Passing	Nov 02, 2016
About	Kristin Ann (Clifton) Huerta was born in Gary, Indiana, to Paul and Margaret (Maruchnic) Clifton; Kristin passed away after a brief battle with cancer. She was a 1969 graduate of Gary Horace Mann High School where she was a member of the Spanish club and enjoyed a study abroad trip to Mexico to further her knowledge of the Spanish language. She was also a member of the band and played the flute. She briefly attended Indiana University in Bloomington. She studied art history and archaeology. She was employed by Indiana University for over 30 years first in the Halls of Residence Food Service Division and retiring from the Office of the Registrar, Records Processing Group. Kristin enjoyed her hobby of gardening. Immediately after her retirement she attended classes and became a Certified Master Gardener Intern. She collected a large amount of daylilies, hostas and grasses. She maintained seven flower beds, numerous potted plants on her deck and countless plants inside of her home. She started her annual flower garden plans during the winter months. Each year she selected color themes and plant varieties. In early spring, she started over 700 plants from seed, transplanted them into four packs and then set them out in her flower beds. You can view some of her garden videos on YouTube by searching user huerta4245. She also enjoyed photography and editing her pictures with photo editing software. She brightened others with her monthly calendars in which she featured one of her photos that she had edited. Her favorite holiday was Halloween and she celebrated it by carving at least four pumpkins every year and passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Along with her husband, Kristin made garden videos in which she narrated tours of her flower beds and selected the music to accompany slide shows of the pictures she had taken during the year. She also helped her husband produce DVD videos which included slide shows of numerous IU student organization productions including the Asian American Association's “Taste of Asia” and “Fashion Show.” She also helped produce DVDs for the Asian Student Union's “Mr. And Ms. Asia”. Kristin enjoyed taking pictures at the events and then selecting the pictures and accompanying audio for the slide shows. From her husband's gardens, Kristin daily ate at least ½ pint of blueberries during the growing season; a cucumber and tomato salad; her favorite green beans; and freezing the other vegetables for use during the winter months. She liked to take trips to local state parks; the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH; Native American Mounds in IL, OH, and IN; or just down to the lake to have a picnic. Nashville, IN, was a place she visited at least three times a year. For several years, she wanted to go to the County Fair and just watch the 4H'ers show off their horses. Of course, she took a picnic lunch and her camera. Kristin fell in love with Muffy VanDerBear and eventually wound up with four Muffys' and one Hoppy. She enjoyed her trips to Nashville where there was a store that sold clothes for her Muffys and Hoppy. Kristin acquired a large collection of clothes for her girls. She changed clothes for the girls monthly and had outfits for all the big holidays and vacation trips. Such as, the sailor outfits the girls wore to go row boating or the cheerleader outfit for the Colts game. Kristin enjoyed the arts and entertainment. She enjoyed going to the local art fairs and making purchases from her favorite artists. She was a lifelong fan of musicals and had a special place for the “Big Band Era” movies. Her favorite couple was Fred and Ginger. She acquired most of their movies and a large collection of their books. She also collected Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies. She also liked action movies. She collected James Bond movies. Her favorite Bond was Sean Connery. When Kristin was looking for a home to purchase she fell immediately in love with her new home and made an offer before the house was even listed on the market. She oversaw remodeling projects which included the master bath where she had tile work done in the shape of cattails; a deck which included a jacuzzi and a roof; a shed which she had constructed after searching magazines; and her downstairs TV viewing area where she had her favorite leather couch and gas fireplace. She spent most of her time either on her deck or in her TV room. Kristin liked to cook. Although she was always a little shy, when her husband was a mentor for the Minority Achiever's Program at IU, Kristin took it upon herself to cook a Sunday dinner once a month and a big Thanksgiving dinner for all of Michael's mentees. There were times when she fed over a dozen hungry students at a sitting. It also gave her the chance to try some new recipes. She enjoyed listening to the students talk during the meals and some stayed in contact with her long after they graduated. Kristin was a avid fan of the Colts. She watched all the games and especially enjoyed Super Bowl XLI when her Colts beat her husband's Bears. She was kind enough not to rub it in. Kristin is survived by her husband of 42 years, Michael Huerta of Bloomington, IN; sister, Kathy (Clifton) McFate, and Rich of Buffalo Grove, IL; sister, Laura (Clifton) Hormuth of Indianapolis; niece, Elizabeth (Hormuth) Oliver and Doug of Fishers; nephew, David and Jamie Hormuth of Austin, TX; nephew, CJ McFate of Chicago, IL; great-nephew, Theodore Hormuth of Austin, TX; stepmother, Barbara Clifton of Munster. She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Margaret Clifton.