Elizabeth Kim Dancer

Our community sadly lost Elizabeth Kim Dancer on August 27, 2020. Kim passed peacefully in Kansas City, Missouri, her home for the last 28 years, of complications from cancer.

She was born in 1955 in Texas to Jerry and Joan while her father was stationed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi. Kim and her family moved around the country and abroad throughout her childhood before landing in South Plainfield, New Jersey in 1969. She graduated from South Plainfield High School in 1974. Though she moved around consistently due to her father’s Naval career, Kim considered herself from New Jersey and cherished the family and friends of that community. Additionally, Kim always felt that Caney, KS was her true hometown; the place where her parents were born, raised, and fell in love. Kim would go back to Caney frequently, often returning multiple times a year to visit with her extended family.

She later attended and graduated from the University of Oklahoma before embarking on a career that led to her passion for working with new technology and computers. Initially, Kim worked for Fluor Corporation in Orange County, California. She eventually moved back to the east coast and worked for AT&T as a System Administrator for over a decade. AT&T took her from New Jersey to Ohio and finally Kansas City, Missouri as she advanced in her career and grew her family. She later worked with the US Department of Agriculture as a Senior Test Engineer from 2001 until 2014. Most recently, Kim worked as a Senior QA Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 2014 until her passing.

Throughout Kim’s life, she was most joyous when surrounded by family and friends. She absolutely loved being a grandma and she was a huge presence in all her children’s lives. She celebrated each holiday to its fullest to take advantage of time with the people she loved most. Her rebellious spirit colored her life with adventures and fun. Kim was an incredibly generous person; she never ceased to find ways to gift presents and make donations to people and organizations she cared about. Forever a creative soul, Kim’s lifelong love of music and literature defined her main interests and activities outside of family. She thrived in knowing the world was full of magic and lived every day hoping to learn something new.

Kim is survived by a large, loving family including her four children Michael Russo, Jacob Dancer, Clair Rogers, and Thomas Rogers; her daughter-in-law Heather Russo and granddaughter Nona Russo; nieces and nephews including Alyse and Alex Matteson, Kimberly and Bob Hamilton, Steven Dancer, and Patrick Dancer; as well as her mother Elizabeth Joan Dancer, brother Mark Dancer, and sister Cecily Dancer. She was preceded in death by her father Jerry Dean Dancer.

Because of this time in our history, a Catholic ceremony will be a private event among family. A memorial service to celebrate Kim’s life will be held digitally in the afternoon on Monday, September 7, 2020. A future event to honor Kim’s memory will be held together with friends and family when it’s safe to do so in 2021.

In lieu of funeral services, and to honor Kim, we ask that all who wish to participate make a donation to organizations close to her heart such as KCUR 89.3 (kcur.org) or Midwest Music Foundation (midwestmusicfoundation.org).