Amy Elizabeth Walker Filice

Amy Elizabeth Walker Filice, age 71, passed away December 27, 2019 from cancer.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Amy was the first daughter of Joseph and June Walker. Amy grew up and attended high school in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where her roles on the Student Council and the City Administrator on Government Day foreshadowed her future career with the City of Saint Paul. Amy transferred in her senior year to Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California. An excellent student, she then attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in Environmental Design. She was a popular leader, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and member of Oski Dolls and several honor societies. She was a talented piano player and her friends remember her delight in a fast-moving rendition of the Maple Leaf Rag. In her senior year, during the on-campus strikes, Amy was a respected organizer and planner of student action.

Amy obtained her Master's Degree in Architecture at The Cooper Union in New York City. She practiced as one of few women architects under famed architect Richard Meier as well as at firms in Saint Paul and Atlanta. She briefly lived in Seattle and Menlo Park before making her way to Minnesota.

Amy joined the City of Saint Paul in 1990, where she remained committed to the improvement of the City and its neighborhoods until 2017. Her many contributions during her tenure included overseeing the creation and management of the City's Cultural STAR grant program, which distributes funds annually to arts and cultural organizations; shepherding a major expansion and renovation of the Minnesota Children's Museum; leading an interagency effort to facilitate construction of and development around the Phalen Corridor on Saint Paul's Eastside; and closely partnering with elected leaders, neighborhood organizations, and community leaders to strengthen infrastructure and promote thriving, healthy housing and communities. Beyond her professional role, she actively engaged in civic life in the Twin Cities through Junior League, local campaigns, and charitable organizations supporting youth and families. She remained a registered architect throughout her career and regularly brought her expertise to bear including as an appointee to the Minnesota State Designer Selection Board charged with selecting primary designers on construction and planning projects requested by state agencies, universities, and colleges.

In addition to her many professional accomplishments, Amy was an avid genealogist, tracing her family lineage back to the original passengers on the Mayflower and traveling across the world to perform research at historical libraries, churches, and town halls. She was a decades-long book club participant, cherishing both the opportunity to explore the world through books but also the close fellowship of strong and accomplished colleagues and friends. Amy also loved music. She supported and regularly attended the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as well as Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. She imbued an appreciation for music in her children and grandchildren from an early age, and for decades enthusiastically attended countless piano, violin, and cello lessons and concerts. She continued playing the piano all her life, became the proud owner of a Steinway concert grand, and for over a decade attended the annual Autumn Sonata "piano camp" in Vermont. An ardent proponent of good design, she created at many levels from the plans for the family summer home to pieces of jewelry. She noticed, appreciated and made the best use of light and space in all of her homes, and appreciated art at every level - from the museum gallery to the shape and form of her eyeglasses.

Above all, Amy was a deep and present listener to friends, family, and strangers alike, always ready with sage advice and rarely leaving a place without knowing the life story of at least one person present. Her laugh was infectious, sometimes bringing herself and others to the point of tears, and often accompanied by copious hugs. She was enthusiastic cheerleader to her childrens' many athletic endeavors - which not infrequently required braving subzero sideline temperatures to witness short bursts of activity on cross-country ski trails, barreling down the side of mountains, and carrying canoes from lake to lake in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota - patiently and lovingly supported their professional and personal pursuits, and was an ever-present ally through all of life's trials and tribulations. She loved cats, relating to their independence and propensity to bask in the sunlight. In every capacity, she maintained an optimistic spirit; when life presented her with a hard winter freeze, she grew peonies.

She is survived and dearly missed by her children, Ross Filice of Washington, DC; Clara Filice (and Gregg Furie), of Newton, MA; and Brad Filice, of San Francisco, CA; five grandchildren, Zoe, Leo, Sam, Reid and Lila; siblings Jeanne Walker Harvey, Dick Walker (and Wendy Walker), and Jay Walker.

A private ceremony was held to celebrate Amy's life during the pandemic. Correspondence may be sent to Clara Filice, 15 Kenmore Street, Newton, MA 02459.