Jessica Nicole Roark

Born August 31, 1984, in Kansas City, Kansas, Jessica Nicole Roark passed away from complications due to cancer on August 22, 2010, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Jessica graduated from Jefferson West High School, Meriden, Kansas, in 2002. She later received B.S. degrees from the University of Kansas for Environmental Studies in 2009 and one for Environmental Science and Civil Engineering in 2010 in Lawrence, Kansas. She was Vice President of Society of Women Engineers-Kansas, a member of the Audubon Society, and an active volunteer in many organizations. Jessica sought to make positive changes for our society through improving our knowledge of how our environment works and how humans interact with the environment both chemically and physically. Her main purpose in life was to give as much as she could back to others by helping sustain the Earth for our future.
She leaves behind her mother, Charlena Eckert, father, John Roark, stepmother, Lori Roark, sisters Cristi and Elizabeth Dennis, and brother John Roark III. Surviving grandparents are: Glenn and Doris Farmer, John and Juanita Roark; and step-grandparents Lee and Linda Lyons, and Sylvia and Jimmy Peerson. Jessica also leaves behind many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
Services are to be held at Lawrence Funeral Chapel, 3821 W. 6th St., Lawrence, Kansas, on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. The memorial starts promptly at 7 p.m. and lasts until 9. Private interment to follow; immediate family only please.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation (A.C.C.R.F.) at www.ACCRF.org; or the American Cancer Society.