BELLE — “We are going through the motions and doing things instead of being focused on quality, leaving a mark, leaving a legacy,” Amy Kiso said in a May 16, 2018, article in The Maries County Advocate. “I want quality of life over quantity of life.”

Living her dash to the fullest, Amy served as a school board member of her alma mater for more than 10 years, was a tasty cook according to her family, graduated from Columbia College in 2017 with her second master’s degree, and even changed jobs since she was first diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2008, 2013 and 2016.

Amy did so much with the last nine years of her life. What was her secret?

“Honestly, looking back now, at the time you feel that urgency that I am not going to be able to last much longer,” she said in 2018. “And here I have kept this secret all this time and think more about making the most of every day instead of impending death.”

During her third diagnosis, friends and co-workers noticed her attitude difference. Like all moms, she worried about her greatest accomplishments: her children. Their reactions. She worried how their childhoods and youth would be affected by her illness.

“It was too much,” she said six years ago, acknowledging the difference in the 2016 diagnosis to the first cancer announcement in 2008. “It took away from being able to be a child or youth.”

Amy desperately wanted to see her children graduate and was there to see them all. She attend her last graduation as a Maries County R-2 Board of Education member in May, seeing her nephew graduate. Fellow board members were present during her funeral at Sassmann’s Chapel in Belle on Monday afternoon. Maries R-2 Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham said on Tuesday morning that Amy was elected in 2011 to serve on the board of education.

“Amy was an amazing advocate for this district, students and staff,” Basham said. “She prioritized safety and the mental health of our students, staff and community. Amy cared deeply for all of the people in this district and it showed through her actions and words.  Her presence in this community and on our board of education will be greatly missed.”

During her recent years on the board, Amy used her knowledge and skills to apply for grants for the district where she also graduated form in 1989. Because of her, the district was awarded more than $400,000 in grant funds for the safety and security of the students and staff.

“She was very proud of being able to use her experience and knowledge to help others and that was a great accomplishment,” said Amy’s sister Lorie Kiso. “Her children were her greatest accomplishment.”

Making sure her kids had a good education and use their experience for the good of others was something Amy encouraged.

Amy’s children, Braxton, Garrett, Zachariah, and Alaina all stayed close with their mother throughout her illness. Lorie Kiso said the family was tight-nit.

“Alaina is in her third year of college this fall and all the boys work local,” Lorie Kiso said.

True to her attitude, Amy wanted to make memories with her family — enough to last a lifetime.

“I want to go places with my kids and experience things with them,” she said.

Despite being in a lot of pain from so many treatments, Amy kept herself and everyone around her in good humor.

“She was always happy and always smiling,” Lorie Kiso said. “She was selfless and always willing to help others. That is the biggest accomplishment any of us can hope to have, that we have a heart big enough to help everyone else.”

In 2018, leaving her mark was Amy’s biggest goal.

“I really am not focusing on an end at all,” she’d said. “It is just about managing symptoms and that quality of life. I’d like to live until I’m 65 — like my dad and grandpa did.”

During early morning hours of June 19, Amy Kiso of Bland responded to a message from her sister Lorie.
“We didn’t hear anything else from her,” Lorie Kiso said of the hardworking mom, helper and healer. “She died in her sleep.”

She was 53-years-young.