Kendrick David Kruchowski

Kendrick David Kruchowski, age 36, was born on May 8, 1990, at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to Tomi Rachelle Palmer and David Thomas Kruchowski. He died by suicide on May 26, 2026, in Bena, Minnesota, after a long struggle with mental illness.

Kendrick grew up in Coleraine, Minnesota, and attended Greenway Schools, graduating in 2008.

Kendrick loved nature, gardening, reading, and camping. He pursued his interests with passion and curiosity, immersing himself in gaming, building computers, learning to code, painting miniatures, learning calligraphy, smelting metals, and creating pottery from clay he collected himself. He was deeply interested in gardening and loved learning everything from soil composition to traditional planting techniques such as the Three Sisters method. As a child, he was fascinated by dinosaurs, insects, and lizards.

Kendrick was also a talented artist, and was known for his humor, gentle heart, and intelligent mind. He was dearly loved and will be fiercely missed.

Kendrick is survived by his mother, Tomi Palmer; his father, David Kruchowski; his sister, Arianna Kruchowski; his grandfather, Erv Rittmiller; grandparents Linda and Duane Nelson; grandfather Thomas Kruchowski; aunts Franki Evensen, Rickie Zitka, Holly Palmer, and Stefanie Nelson; uncles Michael Palmer, Tom Zitka, and Mitch Nelson; cousins Isabella Evensen, Alexander, Danielle, and Breanna Metzenhuber, Ashley and Ireland Palmer, and Addison and Audrey Nelson; as well as many other aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Kendrick was preceded in death by his grandmother Vivian Rittmiller; grandfather Michael Palmer Sr.; great-grandmother Dorothy Palmer; great-grandparents Ben and Mickey Peterson; great-grandparents Gordon and Phyllis Anderson; and his beloved dog, Sunny.

A celebration of Kendrick’s life will be held at a later date and announced when arrangements are finalized.

Arrangements by Carroll Funeral Home, Deer River and Bigfork, Minnesota.

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