Amanda McCracken Reader, age 36, passed away suddenly and peacefully in her home in Columbus, Ohio on September 6, 2022 following a four-year fight against stage IV melanoma. Despite the toll this terrible disease had taken by the end of her life, Amanda fought with courage, optimism and hope until her dying day. Cancer could never defeat her.
Amanda was born in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 23, 1985. Though she treasured her teenage years living in Greendale, Wisconsin, graduating from Greendale High School in the Class of 2003, she always considered herself a Bay View kid. Though she traveled the country and the world exploring other cities and cultures, Milwaukee’s South Shore Park remained her favorite destination on earth. On return visits to her hometown, she never missed a pilgrimage to the shores of her beloved Lake Michigan.
Following high school Amanda remained in Milwaukee, attending Marquette University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations in the Class of 2007. Far and away the most significant experience in her college days was her membership in the Alpha Phi sorority, where she made lifelong friendships and was adored by her sisters.
On March 24, 2011 Amanda began what she considered one of the great all-time love stories when she met her future husband Joseph Reader during a chance encounter at work. The couple began dating long-distance after Amanda moved to Atlanta, Georgia in July 2011, with Joe living in Columbus, Ohio. For the next 16 months, they kept their romance burning by meeting in between the two cities – including an initial, spontaneous mid-week rendezvous halfway in Corbin, Kentucky – visiting one another, traveling together for friends’ weddings and other getaways and corresponding constantly. Finally in December 2012, Amanda relocated to Columbus to continue building a life with Joe and his son Spencer Reader. Joe and Amanda were engaged on March 24, 2013; and married in Milwaukee on June 1, 2014.
Amanda’s most cherished adventure, however, began with the birth of her daughter Lennon Joyce Reader on February 13, 2018. Among all the titles of love and endearment she held in her lifetime, Mama was her most favorite. From the onset of her pregnancy – and the irony she appreciated of learning the news at a dermatology appointment – Amanda beamed and glowed and frequently expressed that she had never felt better. She embraced the role of Mama and filled it to perfection, raising little Lennon to emulate the caring, compassionate, strong, independent, fun-loving and, most of all, loving mother who would go on to give her daughter everything she had available to give.
Amanda was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma on March 1, 2018, less than three weeks after Lennon’s birth. Her near-lifelong melanoma journey had begun at age eight, but the stakes were raised exponentially with the discovery of metastatic disease in her brain and lung. She entered the care of the melanoma clinic at The Ohio State University, in the cancer hospital known as The James. It of course took no time at all for her to befriend every doctor, nurse and staff member she encountered. The James family became part of her family, and she had a deep gratitude for everything they would do to give her life and hope over the next four and a half years.
Amanda is survived by her husband Joe, daughter Lennon and son Spencer – and cat Smokey – all of Columbus, Ohio; her parents Susan and Ronald Klement of Franklin, Wisconsin; her brother Andrew (Sarah) McCracken of Eau Claire, Wisconsin; her brother Alan (Alex) McCracken and sister Ashley McCracken, all of Greendale, Wisconsin. Auntie Amanda is also survived by her five nieces and nephews: Declan, Grant, Rowan, Russell and Rae. Amanda was preceded in death by her father Gregory McCracken, who passed away following his own fight against melanoma on September 7, 2016.
Though Amanda’s time on earth was far too short; it could be said that she packed an entire lifetime of love, happiness, adventure and accomplishment into the 36 years she was given. While her loved ones’ grief and emptiness is profound, all are blessed to have been touched by her beautiful, kind, loving spirit. Amanda had a gift for making everyone feel special, for making everyone laugh and for making everyone she encountered better for having known her.
All are invited to join a celebration of the life of Amanda McCracken Reader on September 23, 2022 – her 37th birthday – in her hometown of Milwaukee. Services will be held at the Greendale Community Church (6015 Clover Lane in Greendale) at 1:00pm, with preceding social time in the church fellowship hall beginning at 11:00am. Following the memorial service and a break to allow time for lunch, all are invited to an informal gathering at the South Shore Park public biergarten at 4:00pm. (To honor and remember Amanda, any of these listed events are subject to begin at least 15 minutes late.)
In lieu of flowers (which would absolutely be devoured by Smokey anyway), her family is requesting memorial gifts be made to the Melanoma Cancer Research Fund-305923 at The James.
The Ohio State University Foundation
Attn: Gift Processing
14 East 15th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43201
Online donations can be made directly via: https://www.giveto.osu.edu/makeagift/?fund=305923.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.17