Amanda Myers

Our princess Amanda “Mandy” Christine Myers lost her life on June 2, 2020 after a senseless car accident in Chicago caused by another. Amanda had a new career in sales in the big city, a new apartment and was ready to take on the world. This unexpected tragedy altered those plans and has horrified and changed all of her loved-one’s lives left on earth. There will be a live stream of the private funeral service at 3 pm CDT June 11, 2020 followed by a celebration at a later date. The link will be added to www.facebook.com/ericmyersamanda prior to the funeral.  You will need to sign in to your Facebook account to watch.

Amanda arrived as an indescribably wonderful gift to this world on October 29, 1997 to her parents Eric and Christine and her older brother Josh. As a baby, Amanda was misdiagnosed with a deadly skin disease. The scare and relief had profound life-changing effects on her and her family. This event and Amanda’s energy, wit and quest for life allowed for us to open our lives to many spur-of-the-moment adventures together as a family.

Her dad was known to call her “deep-end” because when she was very young she jumped into the deep-end of the pool even though she could not swim. She was rescued by her brother Josh who was always ready to do so throughout her life. This is how Amanda lived her life, ALL IN!!! Amanda was fearless and had to be the leader of anything fun and adventurous. Anyone that had the opportunity to know Mandy would say that she touched their heart, made them laugh and smile, and changed how they saw the world.

When the family went boating she always wanted to be up in the front on the bow with her hair in the wind! She actually jumped off a bridge into a creek and was told by a concerned citizen that this was not allowed, and her defense was that there was “No law, sign or rules against it.” When told don’t jump off a bridge just because your friends do it, she replied, “I am the leader, it was my idea and they followed!” If you were ever unsure of pursuing something you believed in, something you had to do, or something you needed to pursue but couldn’t quite have the confidence to do, she would instill courage in you and tell you to “Go for it”. She instilled confidence in others.

Amanda made friends easily and people were drawn to her because of her beautiful soul, kind smile, silliness and courage. Time spent with her seemed somewhat magical because she could concentrate on experiences not details. She would often forget the needed items for her adventures, but she could improvise. Amanda was also well-liked because she was often defending or befriending people who were mistreated in life or viewed by society as imperfect. She encouraged everyone to reach their dreams beyond anything they thought was possible.

Amanda was highly intelligent and excelled in all of her academics. Because of her academic success, Amanda earned a scholarship to attend the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business as an Honors student tuition free. Amanda graduated in May of 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and a certificate in International Business. She had a tentative plan to go to law school after working for some time first.

Amanda finished her last semester of college online at home with her family. For online graduation she dressed up and had lots of fun celebrating! Amanda handled finishing college at home with much patience and grace. It was difficult for her not to be on campus, because her time was often spent with many friends having fun, dining-out and adventuring. The extra family-time together was a wonderful gift for our family to spend precious time together before she was to move away again. We often talked with Amanda about how we would look back someday and cherish this time and she agreed.

Amanda’s strong will and ability to articulate a point-of-view resulted in her almost always getting what she wanted. During the last semester of college at home, she talked us into getting a second dog! We received our first dog, Dakota, due to her courage, tenacity, and persuasion. She loved our dog Dakota and new dog Ellie and had daily walks with them.

Her entire life Amanda dreamed about travelling the world. This was inspired by her father’s and grandfather’s stories of travels. In 2019, Amanda made her dream come true and she attended a semester of college in Ireland on scholarship. This was significantly special to Amanda because of her Irish heritage. Amanda traveled extensively during this trip and had incredible experiences. This included destinations such as London, Budapest, France, Spain, Amsterdam and skiing in Switzerland. Two of her favorite places were Dublin, Ireland and Paris, France. Amanda left for the trip with two suitcases and returned with five, mostly because she brought back thoughtful and special gifts from the trip for her family. A few of the gifts included a handmade Irish leather wallet for her dad to travel with, an Irish cross and collar shirt for her brother to wear to work, tulips for her mom to plant and experience blooms yearly, an Irish tea plate and cup for her grandparents along with Irish tea for them to enjoy. Amanda had plans to spend her life traveling, exploring and sharing her experiences with others. The family was planning a trip to Christine’s homelands of Sweden and Norway in two years for a 30th wedding anniversary trip and Amanda often spoke of looking forward to this. Amanda ventured into the world, did it all, and returned home to recharge for her next adventure!

Amanda was an overachiever in everything she did and accomplished everything she set her mind to! Amanda had more clothes and cosmetics than anyone thought possible. Her family saw her as a natural beauty with beautiful strawberry blond hair, so it was very surprising that she thought she needed cosmetics at all. Mandy still spent hours getting her make-up perfect. Amanda spent her adolescence begging to dye her hair and we never gave in. She found a way to get what she wanted and colored a few strands with Kool-Aid. Amanda was very resourceful in achieving her goals and getting what she wanted in life. As an adult she came to love her unique hair color like the rest of us and was relieved she never really changed it.

Living her life to the fullest and having the most fun every day was her motto. She was in the fast lane of life at all times and wanted to bring everyone on her adventures with her! She has done more in 22 years of her life, than most people will ever do in their entire life. Winning, being the best and getting there first was always her goal! Amanda did everything in a huge way. She had a birthday “month” every year and a half-birthday month in April! Those of us in her circle loved that she did everything big! The biggest parties and the loudest singing! She easily could encourage others to express themselves also.

Amanda’s love for her brother Josh was bigger than the universe. They each had a favorite stuffed animal that they always played together with. Josh would ask what movie to watch together and she would always say in an excited way “Star Wars, the one where Luke gets his hand cut off!” She and him would frequently eat lunch together when the two of them were both home from college. She always encouraged Josh to go do something fun and not over plan it. She loved Josh so much she cleaned his new apartment in Chicago when he moved in! Anyone that knew how Mandy never worried about messes, would agree that this was a deep expression of love for Josh! She loved him so much! They stayed together in Josh’s apartment in the summer of 2019 while she interned in Chicago. Amanda expressed concern every day about Josh being in Chicago during the pandemic and begged him to come home all the time. Josh expressed concerns of being able to keep his job for after the pandemic was over. Amanda was insistent on the fact that being with family during this time was needed and she encouraged Josh daily to do what his heart would tell him to do, not what is logical. And yet, because of how she bravely lived life she didn’t let this sway her from moving to the big city herself!

While it can be said that many daughters and fathers have special relationships, those that saw Eric and Amanda together or heard them talk about each other, would agree that they had one of the most special bonds ever between two people. The two of them got to spend an unusual amount of time together when she was young. This deepened their indescribable bond, and they always found ways to spend time together throughout her life.

Mandy and her mom were often described as twins. They looked the same and had the same contagious smile and laugh. They often would either say something identical or have identical expressions at the same time. Often songs and dances were shared when spending time together. Their personalities although different, complimented each other, and would often challenge each other’s points of views. After many discussions, a new confident decision or solution would result. They could form a united front easily.

The world will be forever better because Amanda was here! Amanda would want to be remembered with happiness, not sorrow. The outpouring of love we have received proves how much she was loved and cherished by so many. Left celebrating Amanda’s life are her father Eric, mother Christine, brother Josh, grandparents Ray and Melba Myers, Great Grandparent Theda Myers and many aunts, uncles and cousins who will miss her so much. Amanda’s death was preceded by her grandparents Jim and Carol Larson. We love you and miss you Amanda! Everyone left here on earth will live life a little more fun and adventurous in your honor now.