On Sunday October 18th Amy Renee Smisek Gerend, 48, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by loving family. 

Amy was born on January 21st, 1978 in Harlan, Iowa to the parents of Kenneth and Irene Smisek.  Raised in Mitchelville, Iowa with her sisters Andrea and Ann,  Amy grew up with a smile on her face, traveling cross country on vacations with family, spending Czech Days with grandparents in Wilber, Nebraska,  enjoying youth sports, and mastering musical performance while becoming a talented pianist. 

Amy went on to attend Iowa State University where she joined the Tri-Delta Sorority. While at Iowa State she met lifelong friends and her future husband, Thomas Gerend. It was here she cultivated her passion for youth and families, graduating with a degree in Child and Family Services in 2001. 

Following college Amy moved to Peoria, Illinois to work for Catholic Social Services and Lutheran Social Services, serving as a family social worker and serving area youth whom had no where else to turn. Amy and Tom were married in Peoria in 2002 and had their first two children, Mary and Lillian, prior to moving to Kansas City later in 2006. Their third child, James, was born in Kansas City in 2009. 

During Amy’s two decades in Kansas City she focused on being the best mom she could be, while supporting youth, new moms, and families in need across Kansas City.  Amy’s work touched thousands and included time at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, Johnson County Health Department, Synergy Services of Kansas City, and Park Hill School District.

Amy lived her beliefs with no hesitation and she never met a stranger. Her aptitude for being a model mom was known far and wide and her friends, colleagues, and clients routinely looked to her for parenting advice, which she was always happy to provide.  Amy indicated her lifetime dream was to have a family and a white picket fence, and she lived every day loving her kids and knowing her dreams had in fact come true.  

Amy is survived by her husband Tom, their amazing children Mary (22), Lillian (20), and James (17), her mother Irene Smisek, and sisters Andrea Smisek and Ann Smisek and many nieces and nephews. She is proceeded in death by her father Kenneth Smisek, and her grandparents.  

A Celebration of Life for Amy will be held at North Cross United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri, on October 29th at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Synergy Services, atten: Youth Resiliency Center (YRC) / Amy Gerend Memorial.  www.synergyservices.org