Fatoreya L. Craig

Fatoreya Lynn Craig, known to those who loved her as Fay, passed away on September 27, 2026, at the age of 23, just a few weeks before her 24th birthday.

Fay was born in Vermont and spent her childhood growing up in Barre, North Troy, and Williamstown. As she got older, life took her to different places throughout Vermont and, for periods of time, to Florida with her sister Alainey and brother Joseph. Wherever life took her, the people she loved remained at the center of who she was.

Fay was the daughter of Marlene Margaret Craig, and Ronald Charles Dueso, and sister to Alainey, Joseph, Emma, Tristan, David, Josh, Tyler, Ashley, and Devin. She was a beloved granddaughter to her Grammy and Papa, a beloved niece to her Aunt Tasha, and an aunt herself to nieces and nephews who loved her. Her cousins Avery, Saray, and Payton were also an important part of her family and shared the kind of bond with Fay that was more like that of siblings. Beyond the family she was born into, Fay had many friends whom she loved deeply and considered family. There are more people who loved Fay, and whom Fay loved, than could ever be adequately named here.

If there was one thing that defined Fay, it was the size of her heart.

She loved people no matter what. Fay believed in second chances and gave them freely. Even when someone had hurt her, she had an extraordinary capacity to continue loving them. She saw beyond people’s mistakes and remembered the person underneath them. She put the needs of others ahead of her own in a way that was simply part of her nature. If someone needed something more than she did, Fay was the kind of person who would put herself last to make sure they had it.

And she was funny—genuinely, effortlessly funny.

Fay had the deepest, goofiest, most genuine laugh. It was the kind of laugh that made everyone else start laughing too. So many people who knew her knew exactly what it was like to laugh with Fay until their stomachs hurt, they couldn’t catch their breath, and tears were running down their faces. Those tear-jerking, gut-wrenching laughs are the kind of memories that stay with you for the rest of your life.

Fay was creative. She loved music dancing, singing, and drawing. Music meant more to her than simply having something to listen to. She connected with music she could relate to—songs that put words to things she had experienced and felt herself. She found pieces of her own story in the music she loved.

Some of the most treasured memories of Fay began when she was little.

Growing up, Fay, Alainey, and Joseph had enormous imaginations. A snow fort in the winter or a tree fort in the summer could become an entire home. They would play family, with Alainey as the mom, Joseph as the dad, and Little Fay as the baby. Other days, they became spies or fairies with different powers. Alainey and Fay would pretend to be Mary-Kate and Ashley, letting their imaginations take them anywhere they wanted to go.

Those childhood worlds eventually disappeared, as childhood worlds do, but the people who created them never forget them.

Faye’s life cannot be measured simply by the number of years she was here. Her life can be found in the people she loved, the people she forgave, the people she made laugh, and the people she put before herself. It can be found in the pictures she drew, the songs she sang, the music that spoke to her, and the memories that now belong to everyone who knew and loved her.

There are parts of every person’s life that even those closest to them can never completely know. Fay had her own struggles, her own experiences, her own thoughts, and her own story. But those things were only parts of her. They were never the entirety of who she was.

She was a daughter.

She was a sister.

She was a granddaughter.

She was a niece.

She was an aunt.

She was a cousin.

She was a friend to many, including people she came to consider family.

She was creative, goofy, forgiving, loving, and deeply human.

She was Fay.

There will never be another person who laughs quite like she did, loves quite like she did, or occupies the exact place she held in the lives of the people who loved her.

Fay will be deeply missed by her family, her friends who became family, and the many people whose lives crossed hers.

May the people who loved her continue to say her name, tell her stories, laugh at the things that were funny, remember the worlds we once imagined together, and carry forward some of the enormous love that Fay gave so freely while she was here.

There will be calling hours to honor Fay on Monday, October 12, 2026, from 4-6 pm at Pruneau-Polli Funeral Home, 58 Summer Street in Barre. Those wishing to express online condolences may do so at www.pruneaupollifuneralhome.com