Death of young Oak Park mom leaves family in mourning

MISSED—Kelli Canty with her three children in happier times. Three young Oak Park children lost their mother on July 18 when Kelli Canty, 33, died unexpectedly in her sleep. The family is awaiting the coroner's toxicology report to determine the cause of death.

The funeral was held on July 24 at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks.

The week before Kelli Canty died, her husband, Christian, lost his job as a graphic artist. The two losses combine to leave the family reeling. The Oak Park community is mobilizing to help.

Canty had three children: Kailee, 10; Magnus, 8, and Gunnar, 3.

Canty's Oak Park parents, Steve and Maureen Young, have established the Kelli Canty Family Fund with Bank of America to help the family pay their bills so they may remain in Oak Park, where the two older children attend Brookside Elementary School.

"Kelli will always be my little girl and in honor of her, it is now my sacred responsibility, along with others who loved her, to ensure that her own little ones and her husband Chris are properly cared for, protected and loved," Steve Young said.

There was no warning that the woman was ill, he said.

"We are devastated. It is a great tragedy. We feel we are living in a nightmare," said Young, who recalled the loving cards his daughter always gave him on his birthday and on other special occasions.

"I would think I'm not going to cry this time and boom, she used to set me off every Father's Day," Young said.

The night before she died, Canty bought her daughter a glass knickknack with a poem that read: "My highest hopes, my greatest dreams, my deepest wishes for your happiness are always in my thoughts and in my heart. Always remember how very much I love you and always will."

Kailee and her mother each wore a half of a necklace. Kailee now wears both pieces, Young said.

Canty and her two older siblings, Chris and Tara, grew up in Oak Park. Kelli was on the Oak Park High School basketball and tennis teams and was one of the top ranked tennis players in Ventura County.

"She was easy to get along with," her father said. "She was very funny."

Karen Gutt met Kelli Canty when their older children were in preschool together in Westlake Village and attended each other's birthday parties every year.

"What a devoted mother she was. Her three kids are the cutest kids ever," said Gutt, who lives in Westlake Village. "It's such a shock, so tragic."

Contributions to the Kelli Canty Family Fund can be mailed to Steve Young at 6660 Buttonwood Avenue, Oak Park, CA 91377.