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Obituary for Jason Hairston
Jason Hairston of Dixon, California, passed away on Tuesday, September 4th . He was 47. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, September 12, at 10:00 AM at The Father’s House in Vacaville.
Jason was born in Orange, California on July 17, 1971, to Mike and Janie Hairston. He is survived by his wife, Kirstyn; son, Cash; daughter, Coco; father, Mike; his brothers, Adam and Jeff; and his sister, Lauren. He is preceded in death by his mother, Janie.
Jason was many things: he was a business man, a football player, a hunter, a son, a brother, and a friend. But what he was most was a husband and a father. Jason married his wife, Kirstyn, on July 18, 1998. They were true partners, and faced every challenge, setback and triumph together. No one believed in Jason more than Kirstyn, and she devoted her life to helping him pursue his dreams.
Jason’s children, Cash and Coco, were the brightest lights of his life. For all of his accomplishments in life, his biggest pride came from being a father. Jason never smiled more than when he talked about Cash and Coco, and his favorite memories were of times spent with Kirstyn and his kids.
Jason was tenacious in whatever he pursued. In sixth grade, he was cut from the football team and he hated the feeling of failure so much that he was determined to never have that happen again. He often said that when it came to football, he wasn’t the fastest or the strongest, but he was the person who never gave up. Jason was a linebacker for the UC Davis Aggies, and after college played for both the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos. A severe neck injury he suffered his junior year of college forced him to retire from football in 1996. He was inducted into the Cal Aggies Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. While others may have been devastated by having their lifelong dream come to such an abrupt end, Jason was undaunted. After a successful career in commercial real estate, he co-founded Sitka Gear, a company dedicated solely to athletic hunting apparel. The idea came to he and a friend while on a hunt, sitting on a mountain, cold, wet, and miserable. When Sitka Gear was sold in 2009, Jason didn’t quit on his dream. Jason wanted to revolutionize the hunting industry and set out on doing just that. In 2011, Jason & Kirstyn launched KUIU, the first consumer-direct hunting apparel business. KUIU was a true reflection of Jason’s drive and passion and represented exactly who he was: a risk taker, a dreamer, and a visionary who absolutely refused to fail.
Along with his successes in business and athletics, Jason was also an incredibly accomplished hunter. He thrived in the mountains, pushing himself to extremes. Jason completed his North American Grand Slam of Wild Sheep in 2017. Included in his Grand Slam was the California state record Nelsoni Desert Ram he took in 2017. Most recently, Jason had hunted brown bear in Alaska, Dall sheep in the Yukon, and had just returned from a caribou hunt with his father and son before he passed.
Losing Jason leaves a void that is vast and is felt by many. Jason naturally drew people toward him; he could make someone he just met feel like the most important person in a room. He lived his life so fully, and his spirit and generosity were endless. His relentless drive pushed everyone around him not just to be better, but to believe that they could accomplish anything they set out to do, so long as they believed in themselves. Jason said it best himself: “Your biggest dreams are possible. Find what you truly love. Become an absolute expert in this, and you can build a career or business. You will never reach your full potential both in life and in business unless you do what you love. Most people use fear to come up with the reasons they should not chase their dreams. Instead, use fear to motivate you to work harder and prepare more. Then, these dreams will happen.”
Jason’s legacy will live on in all who knew him. He will be missed desperately, but his passion for life will keep inspiring all of us to dream big.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Jason’s name to the Boston University Legacy Foundation to support CTE-related research.
