Who is Kimberly Hills Leibe? ‘The Way Home’ Season 4’s tribute card, explained

The Way Home‘s fourth and final season began on a somber note.

At the start of tonight’s Season 4 premiere, “Show Me The Way To Go Home,” the series honors the late Kimberly Hills Leibe with a tribute card.

“In Loving Memory of Kimberly Hills Leibe,” the tribute card reads. “Fare thee well, dear friend…“

The Way Home‘s EPs provided the following statement to DECIDER about Leibe, a fan of the series who became a friend of the show: “Kim was a fan who quickly became a dear friend and ultimately a true inspiration to our entire Way Home family. We all held her in our hearts as we filmed Season 4… and I know we will continue to always.”

The tribute card precedes what is sure to be the start of a difficult goodbye for fans and series stars, alike. Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow, and Evan Williams visited DECIDER’s studio last week, and reflected on the experience of leaving behind their beloved characters.

“[At] the start of the season, Alice is graduating. I feel like for me that felt very, again, life imitates art because I feel like it’s been sort of a growing up experience for me, and then also for Alice,” Laflamme-Snow explained. “So it was really emotional to do that first episode back because it was feeling like a little bit of a graduation in a way. That bittersweet feeling.”

Leigh echoed that bidding farewell to The Way Home was “very bittersweet.”

“I personally, in my life learned so much from Kat and in a lot of ways, art imitating life for that, as well,” she shared. “I was able to grow in ways that I wasn’t anticipating were going to be that profound. So in that sense, I’m so incredibly grateful because I feel like Kat’s sort of helped me off a little diving board to kind of go into the next phase of my life. But at the same time, I love her so much and I love our cast so much and I love their dynamics and whatnot. So it is hard to let go for sure.”

New episodes of The Way Home Season 4 air on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel, with next-day streaming on Hallmark+.

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