Permelia Ann "Missy" Zuk passed away July 15, 2013 after a short illness. Born in 1952, she was a lifelong resident of Kansas City. After graduating from Southwest High School she attended Bradford Junior College, earned a BA from Mount Holyoke followed by a Masters in Fine Arts from UMKC. Her passions for roses, music, art and American heritage were reflected in her active participation in many community, patriotic and genealogical organizations including the Kansas City Rose Society, the Ballet Guild, the Lyric Opera Guild, the Junior League of Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, the Art Study Group, The Daughters of the American Revolution, The United Daughters of 1812, and The United Daughters of the Confederacy. Her parents, Michael and Betty Belle (Estes) Zuk, predeceased her. She leaves a brother, Michael Zuk Jr., his wife Gayle and their children Lara Young (Jared) and Nick Zuk.
Visitation will be held Saturday, July 20, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 12noon at Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road, with a private graveside service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to The Kansas City Rose Society, Loose Park Garden Center, 5200 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO 64112 or the community organization of your choice. Condolences may be offered at
www.mtmoriah-freeman.com
Terry Greenberg (Krause)
At SW, we called her "Ann," but at JC Nichols, we knew her as "Missy," and her given name, Permelia—well—we’d just never heard anything quite like that!
Missy was a very shy, self-conscious little girl who tried to take up as little space in the universe as possible. In contrast, her wardrobe of party dresses, always with crinolines, were luxuriant in their fluffiness, and stirred within me a mixture of jealousy and rage. Clearly her mom was willing to fuss over her clothing in a way that mine was not!
But when Missy resurfaced in high school, she was transformed. Gone was the “walking small” demeanor, and in its place was a young woman to be reckoned with, who stood her ground and worked tirelessly to do away with the “little girl” image that plagued her. I always admired that. The comments posted online at www.mtmoriah-freeman.com display just how far she took that determination—to levels of civic participation and leadership that I personally found astonishing.