New Jersey Chapter

The mission of the New Jersey Chapter of the National AIDS Memorial is to:

• support the mission of the National AIDS Memorial
• facilitate display of the AIDS Quilt with organizations in New Jersey
• promote awareness of HIV/AIDS
• serve as a local AIDS service organization
• build alliances with other local AIDS service organizations
• and help people remember and grieve for those who have died from AIDS-related diseases.

Remembering Christopher Ross John Huff

My brother, Christopher Ross John Huff, was born in Newark, NJ. Chris was an outgoing, caring, friendly person, beloved by all who knew him. He almost always had a song on his heart and didn't mind singing it out loud, and he had a great singing voice. One special memory I (Gregory) have of him is going to see the movie The Wiz when it came out in 1078. We walked to the movie theater from our house, and the whole afternoon was a positive time spent together, just him and me. Knowing he wanted to spend the time with me as his younger brother meant a lot. That movie remains a cherished memory for me. Or another time when my sister Sherry helped him carry a large glass fish tank home from the pet store while I carried sub sandwiches for our lunch. It seemed like such a long walk back then on a hot summer day.

Chris grew up in East Orange, attending Our Lady Help of Christians School and Seton Hall Prep, and was a Pace University graduate with a gift for bookkeeping and accounting. A recipient of the JFK Memorial Award for History, he was also recognized for his participation in the Seton Hall Prep Drama Society. He embraced the rise of computers by becoming an expert in IT, working for Paramount Pictures and Orion Pictures in NY. An avid collector of Motown and girl groups records, he became friends with Mary Wilson of the Supremes and wrote liner notes for a Little Eva album. He enjoyed creative writing and loved to sing and dance, even won a Dirty Dancing contest once. Chris was raised Catholic, and John is the name he chose for his confirmation. He had renewed his commitment to the Lord prior to his death in 1990.

About the quilt panel, submitted in Summer 2024 to the AIDS memorial quilt NJ chapter: I designed it as a tribute to his love for classic Motown music and I wanted it to demonstrate the vibrancy that his life had with lots of color and energy. The immediate family approved the design. The kente cloth is representative of his African heritage. The phrase “Forever in Our Hearts” is a dedication written on his headstone in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark, NJ. I added the rainbow in honor of his identity as a gay man to portray the joy he brought to people, like the wonder of seeing a rainbow in the sky after the rain. These are the ways I believe he would want to be remembered. The panel was stitched with love by Joyce Paton.

— The Huff Family

AIDS Memorial Quilt

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was conceived in 1985 as a way for devoted friends and lovers to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their aim was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This effort became the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Almost forty years later, the Quilt is now under the care and stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial.

New Jersey Displays

Quilt is now available for local displays! Check to see upcoming displays that are open to the public. Request Quilt Blocks for your own display here.