Obituary of Cheryl Kay Palecki

We are sad to announce our mother, Cheryl Kay Palecki, age 78, passed away on October 6, 2023 in Parker, Colorado. Cheryl was born in Wichita, Kansas on March 5, 1945 to Richard and Edith "Eileen" Smith.

Cheryl is survived by her children Lisa Fritz-Kinsella, Cynthia Maley (Derek), Teresa Eos (Les), Michael Palecki (Tracy), and Chris Palecki (Sara), grandchildren, Cameron Summers, Corey Summers, Nathan Fritz, Anelisia Palecki, Savanna Otto, Jackson Palecki, Jonathan Maley and brother, Larry Smith.

Cheryl was predeceased by her husband of 59 years, Robert "Bob" Palecki, parents, Richard and Eileen Smith, brothers Robert Smith and David Smith, grandchild Devin Eos and son in law Bill Kinsella.

In Cheryl's earlier years, as a young child, her parents were proud of her as she did well in school and had an interest in drawing and the arts. After graduating high school, she went to Wichita State University; Cheryl had an interest in art and psychology. Soon after college, she met her husband Robert in Wichita, who was in the Navy. After being married they moved to Oxnard, CA where he was stationed and then Rhode Island soon after, where Lisa, her first child was born.

Cheryl was a devoted Wife and Mother with an innate gift and an artistic ability that shone through in everything she did. She sewed her young children's Halloween costumes and clothes and made beautiful plaques as an interest on the side. She genuinely devoted herself to making each and every birthday and holiday special and had a natural visual creative side in interior design. Christmas was a magical time of year and she went to great lengths to find just the right gift for each family member. Her home was always warm and beautiful, especially around the holidays. Our Mother had an ethereal quality and loved to spend time with each of her children and grandchildren. She encouraged creative themed celebrations, movie nights, and there were many late night conversations. She was an enthusiastic soccer coach, coaching many soccer games and tournaments with Mike, her son. Chris, her son, was a player on the teams they coached. Mom always wanted to know how you were and soon the conversation would turn to a reverent depth of support, whatever the topic was. She had a great sense of humor, often poking fun at whatever twisted outcome there was. One of her sayings, "beware of the light at the end of the tunnel, it could be another train." She also had other relevant sayings for dealing with life's everyday ups and downs such as "where there's a will there's a way" and "you are responsible for your own happiness." Later in life, she enjoyed watching baseball, football, basketball and hockey with Dad and visiting with her adult children and grandchildren.

Our Mom was more than happy to be our emotional sounding board. She was a star in our eyes that way and we are extremely grateful for her being our Mom.

Our family takes great comfort that our Dad, who passed recently, and our Mom are reunited.

We will be Celebrating Cheryl's life on November 13th, 2023 at 12 noon at First Presbyterian Church of Littleton, 1609 W Littleton Boulevard, Littleton, CO 80120.