Longtime KC area leader of priest sex abuse victims’ group dies at 66

By Judy L. Thomas
Kansas City Star
September 16, 2015

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article35485158.html

Mike Hunter, who for more than two decades was the voice of clergy sexual abuse victims in the Kansas City area, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack last month. Hunter, 66, had served as head of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests since 1992 and was among the longest-serving local SNAP leaders in the country. For a 2011 story in The Star, Hunter held a picture of himself taken by a priest in 1962, when Hunter was 12 years old.

Mike Hunter, who for more than two decades was the voice of clergy sexual abuse victims in the Kansas City area, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack last month.

Hunter, 66, had served as head of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests since 1992 and was among the longest-serving local SNAP leaders in the country.

Those who worked with Hunter described him as a soft-spoken, humble man and an excellent listener who did not judge others. Though he didn’t feel comfortable doing interviews, he served as a spokesman for the organization and often was seen at news conferences and vigils displaying large photographs of young sexual abuse victims.

“He was one of the most kindhearted and generous and compassionate people I’ve ever met,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s national director.

Hunter, a lifelong Kansas City area resident and musician who for many years owned Keith Coldsnow Artists Supply in Westport, kept a spiral notebook filled with notes and phone numbers of hundreds of victims who had contacted him over the years.

“He selflessly devoted thousands of hours over a quarter century, listening to victims and witnesses and whistle-blowers,” Clohessy said. “He talked desperate victims out of suicide, took them to support meetings (and) accompanied them to police,” and he went to churches to pass out leaflets with the names of clerics accused of molesting children.

As a young teen, Hunter told The Star in 2002, he was groped by his priest, who stuck his hand down Hunter’s pants. He said he kept the abuse a secret for years. Later, he said, he learned that his younger brother Kevin had suffered years of sexual abuse by a priest before spiraling into drug addiction and contracting AIDS. He died at 29.

The Hunters went to the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in 1992 to report the priest, who had become a bishop in another state. The priest denied any inappropriate conduct. The diocese deemed the allegation not credible but paid for counseling sessions for some family members.

In 2008, Hunter was among 47 plaintiffs who reached a $10 million settlement with the diocese in a civil lawsuit that accused 12 priests of sexual abuse from the 1950s to the 1980s.

“Over the past 20 years, I have known of no one more steadfast or more kind,” said Rebecca Randles, the attorney who has represented dozens of victims in lawsuits against the diocese. “Mike listened to hundreds of survivors pour their souls out to him. He cried so much, so often feeling the pain of the survivors he mentored, cherished and loved that it caused him pain — yet he continued to do it.”

Hunter leaves two sons, Adam and Matt, two grandchildren, partner Joyce Meers and several siblings. A memorial service is scheduled for noon on Oct. 11 at Shawnee Mission Park.

“He had the biggest heart,” Adam Hunter said. “He never once turned his back on anybody. He was a true soldier for sure.”