Victoria Laura Baldwin

life story

~ Look for the bright moments each day. ~

About Tori

Victoria “Tori” Laura Baldwin died at home at 12:34a on Saturday, December 30, after a 17-year battle with cancer. Her parents, William and Kelley, and her brother, Bill, were with her when she was able, at last, to find peace, escape all the pain and sadness, and move on to her final adventure.

Tori was diagnosed with a PXA brain tumor at age 13 with recurrences at ages 22 and 28, but still managed to travel to six continents and 26 countries, graduate cum laude from college (double major in Creative Writing and Spanish), and revel in new life experiences that helped her understand our world better. Her favorite movie, “About Time,” summed up her approach nicely: “I try to live every day as if it was the final day of my extraordinary ordinary life.”

Tori was truly a force of nature. Many people used words like “fierce” and “fire” to describe her. Her love of life was relentless, her loyalty to friends and family was remarkable, her curiosity insatiable, her kindness to animals (and people who used correct grammar!) was unwavering. She found beauty in words and language, humor wherever she could, and delighted in discovering soul-quenching places in nature that took her breath away.

Born in Evanston, IL on July 2, 1993, Tori began her love of education in preschool at the Chiaravalle Montessori School at age 2 and transitioned into public education in 1st grade at Washington Elementary School a half block from home. Mid-year the family relocated to Augusta, MI where Tori attended the Gull Lake school system through 11th grade.

In middle and high school, Tori developed her love for music, reading and writing, and saw her first poems published as Teen Poetry winner in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Her senior year of high school was transformative when she enrolled at Interlochen Arts Academy, a magical school near Traverse City, MI where talented students from around the world hone their artistic skills. Tori focused her studies on Creative Writing, and poets were her true idols (Jim Harrison and Mary Oliver heading the list).

Tori’s first college experience was in New Zealand during the summer before her freshman year began with Michigan State University. It was there that Tori realized a big state school was not her calling and instead embarked on a “gap” year of life experiences. She first volunteered at the local nature center in Kalamazoo caring for birds of prey in the winter, bravely entering an agitated red-tailed hawk’s cage each day to feed and clean. She learned that the hawk finally would calm only when she sang “The Wheels on the Bus” to him. Working with these magnificent raptors created a bond with birds that Tori treasured throughout her life.

After years of studying Spanish in high school and traveling to Europe twice, Tori knew she wanted to be fully immersed within a Spanish-speaking culture. Courageously choosing remote locations, Tori continued her gap year in Cusco, Peru and Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica where she captured amazing experiences for her growing writing collection.

After returning to the U.S. Tori selected Knox College, a small liberal arts college in Galesburg, IL, when she learned that the head of the English Department had Googled her published work before meeting him for the college tour. Tori developed several strong relationships with her teachers and was actively involved both on and off campus; she thrived at Knox!

Probably the best year of Tori’s life was spent in Barcelona, Spain during her junior year of college followed by a summer in South Africa volunteering with Youth 4 African Wildlife. Tori had hoped to return to Barcelona after college to work but, sadly, that was not to be.

During her last semester at Knox in 2016, at age 22, the same brain tumor from age 13 recurred. No surgery was possible this time, and the subsequent chemo and radiation changed her life trajectory forever. That fall, Tori was misdiagnosed with another type of brain cancer; the doctors gave her just 4-6 weeks to live. While she “survived” that misdiagnosis, the radiation led to epilepsy and Tori struggled to control daily seizures for the next 5 years.

In 2021, Tori was just beginning to hope for a good future, including getting a master’s degree, when in April she experienced a massive brain hemorrhage behind her forehead. The brain cancer had returned again, this time spreading to other parts of her brain and to her spine (a rarity for PXA cancer) and was inoperable. It was clear that the tumors were advancing aggressively, so total brain and spine radiation was performed with the intent of giving Tori a few more years of “normal” life. Unfortunately, necrosis (dead tissue) developed rapidly from the radiation which led soon to relentless deterioration of Tori’s cognitive and physical abilities. Memory loss, left eye palsy, loss of feeling on the right half of her body, and eventually the inability to communicate were the more serious symptoms Tori experienced. Hospice services began October 2022 and by February 2023, Tori was completely bedridden.

Despite these horrible conditions, Tori still managed to smile each day, truly enjoying the little things in life: a cat in her lap, a hot cup of coffee (with honey and whole cream), and her father’s delicious meals including her daily omelet with “crunchy butter” (i.e., buttered toast). She spent her days watching TV series like her favorite, “Charmed,” along with movies and videos. She was unable to operate the TV remote control but was able to press her Ring “help” button next to her bed whenever she needed assistance.

Tori felt love and support from many friends, family, and the wonderful neighbors she met when her family relocated to Bloomington, MN in May 2021 following the brain hemorrhage. Visitors from around the world helped keep Tori’s spirits alive and enriched her life, but she was deeply saddened by those “close” friends who dropped out of her world and surprised at what seemed like selfishness on their part that they couldn’t find the time just to send a note of “thinking of you” or “I love you.” Tori gave so much of herself to others, but she should have saved some of that energy for herself.

Tori whirled through life, flew as high as she could, drank in as much as her all-too-short time on earth allowed; and even as her body began to betray her, she still looked for the bright moments in every day. In his poem, “The Present,” Harrison uses flight as a metaphor for the joy of living, concluding soberly: “The cost of flight is landing.” Tori landed far too early…but what a magnificent flight she had.

Tori’s favorite place in the world was Cape Cod, so her final resting place will be there, near her grandmother, in our family plot. A private service will be held at Woodside Cemetery in Yarmouth Port in the summer of 2024.

~ Look for the bright moments each day. ~

memorial service

Funeral/Cremation Provider: Crescent Tide Cremation Services