Marcie Wick

March 20, 1971 – December 24, 2024
Late December 24th, 2024, Marcie Janine Wick passed away after an eighteen-month battle with leiomyosarcoma, surrounded by family. She was 53 years old. A resident of Reno, Nevada, Marcie leaves behind a legacy of compassion, resilience, and an insatiable curiosity about the world and the stories of everyone in it.
Marcie was born March 20th, 1971, in Lawrence, Kansas, to Bruce and Sylvia Wick. From earliest childhood she exhibited a deep love for animals, as a small girl declaring that she wanted to be a "monkeyologist" when she grew up. Taking after her mother, she had an uncanny bond with animals-she could coax any cat into her lap and tease any dog into "singing," often to the annoyance of their owners. She spent her childhood exploring the outdoors, leaping at frogs, insects, turtles, and lightning bugs alongside her older brother.
Throughout her life Marcie had numerous cats, dogs, and a budgerigar named "Tweets." Though her career made dog ownership impractical, where she could Marcie always had a feline companion and never missed an opportunity to play with every dog and cat she met. Her mother always seemed to end up with the cat or dog, and she'd have to get a new one. Cat hair had a constant presence in her life.
Her love was not confined to animals. Indeed, Marcie loved everyone, even people she didn't much like. Her father's work took the family from small town Kansas to Las Vegas and ultimately Reno, Nevada. The moves were merely punctuations in the seemingly never-ending series of road trips to family reunions and interesting places. She was never bored during those long journeys, Marcie was always eager to see what lay over the next hill, to thrill at the natural beauty of the world and wonder at the lives of the people who made historic landmarks what they were.
In a life of moving and travelling, Marcie developed deep bonds with her family, including cousins and distant relations, but also the ability to make new friends everywhere she went. She had an infectious smile, was always happy, and never happier than when she was helping someone who needed it. If someone was in trouble, they never had to look for her. Marcie was always there to help. Often before they even knew they needed her.
Marcie's maternal grandfather, a farmer and skilled mechanic, would have described her as like a crankshaft: hidden, but always straight, true, immensely strong, and without which the whole engine becomes useless. And that was indeed Marcie's place in the family: always there, never seeking attention for herself, but through her integrity and strength was the motive power that kept the family moving in the right direction, always putting others before herself and quietly working to keep everything going.
Her academic journey was marked by perseverance. Diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade, Marcie faced initial challenges in school but worked tirelessly to overcome them. Her determination transformed her into a voracious reader, devouring biographies, works of historical fiction, fantasy, and topics ranging from genealogy to forensic reconstruction to psychology. Most of all she loved stories-both in books and from the lives of people she met. Whether characters in fiction, historical figures, mythological beings, or the lives of those long passed, she learned to understand and deeply connect with others through their stories.
Introduced to Tolkien's works as a girl, Marcie loved tales of hobbits, dwarves, and the little peoples of legend all over the world. Not satisfied to just read fiction, she immersed herself in mythology and fairy tales. From this, gnomes slowly began appearing around her, first in her garden then growing over her life into an army that peeked out of every corner of her house.
Marcie's career was as varied as it was impactful. She began her professional life as a travel agent for Reno Air, which allowed her to be near her family while indulging her passion for travel. Her adventures took her across numerous states and two oceans, to Canada, Hong Kong, and Czechoslovakia. Later, she worked at Barnes and Noble, where she fueled her love for books with employee discounts and access to rare literary treasures.
A passion for learning led Marcie to study nursing, a career that became her true calling. She began her studies at Simmons College in Boston, later studying forensic nursing at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Marcie ultimately earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2006 and became a registered nurse licensed in nine states.
It was in nursing that Marcie truly made her mark. Starting as a Medical, Surgical, and Telemetry Nurse, her passion for helping others and insatiable curiosity led her on a career journey spanning the breadth of the healthcare system. Beginning at Reno's South Meadows Medical Center to hone her skills, she moved to the Reno VA hospital, bringing compassion and hope to local veterans who had little enough of either.
Following her passion for learning, she spent three years providing lifesaving care to children at the Hemophilia Treatment Center of Nevada, Las Vegas while contributing to cutting-edge research on this rare and deadly condition.
Once again taking on a new challenge, Marcie worked as a Psychiatric Nurse at Senior Bridges Behavioral Health, Sparks, providing empathetic care to seniors at their most vulnerable. Finally, she moved to Kindred Hospice, Carson City, where she served as an On-Call Hospice Nurse, later working as a Hospice Triage Nurse for Gentiva Hospice. Her work in hospice care provided comfort and dignity to those in their final days, touching the lives of patients and families across the western United States.
The company she worked for, Gentiva Hospice, laid Marcie off shortly after she was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of blood cancer. Even when given this devastating blow at her most vulnerable, Marcie was at least as concerned about the quality of care for her former patients as her own diagnosis with a deadly disease.
Through numerous setbacks and torturous chemotherapies, Marcie never gave up the fight against her cancer. Always true to herself, Marcie was afraid, but more concerned for her family's continued wellbeing than her own. She lost consciousness early Christmas Eve, and passed late that night, surrounded by family, her brother holding her right hand and her sister holding her left.
Marcie's life was defined by her deep love for her family and unwavering dedication to those she cared for. Even in the most difficult times, she always considered what the right thing to do was-and did that, whatever it was, no matter the cost. She had rare integrity, and boundless compassion. No one who knew her in a personal or professional context went untouched by her kindness and generosity. Like her grandfather's metaphorical crankshaft, the people around her all lived better lives delivered by the power of her of her integrity and compassion.
Marcie spoke with her parents, Bruce and Sylvia, and her siblings, older brother Eric and younger sister Carrie, for hours every week, cherishing their close bond. She also shared her home and heart with Max, her beloved cat and faithful companion.
A lover of books, Marcie's home was filled with shelves brimming with novels, historical texts, and works on nursing, psychology, history and mythology. Her passion for learning was exceeded only by her passion for stories, a passion that extended to her personal interactions as she eagerly sought to learn the unique stories of, and so understand, everyone she met.
In accordance with her wishes, a Celebration of Life and tree planting ceremony will be held in the spring of 2025. The family will announce the date and location in the coming months.
If you wish to honor Marcie's memory, donations can be made to Pinocchio's Moms on the Run, a Reno non-profit that supported her financially and emotionally in the darkest days of her fight with cancer.
The story of Marcie's journey is one of compassion, resilience, and love. Her life took her on many paths, but through it all, she touched countless hearts. When speaking of many it's cliché, but Marcie truly made the world a better place for her having been in it. She is deeply missed, and will be remembered forever by those who knew and loved her.
"In the end, we'll all become stories." ~ Margaret Atwood