It’s a huge loss.
A.J. Barks, 42, died Saturday, a week after her husband, Matt Siemer, 43, passed away.
They suffered fatal injuries in a Dec. 13 car crash in Central Illinois.
The Rogers Park couple — who each headed separate non-profit organizations in Chicago — had just returned from vacationing in Canada and were driving to pick up their dogs from a relative who’d been taking care of the pups when they crashed during a snow storm.
Mrs. Barks was co-executive director of Chicago Women’s Health Center, a nonprofit that provides health care access to women and trans people.
She was pronounced dead at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.
“We said our goodbyes to her, and my husband kissed her fingers, and I leaned down and told her ‘Go find Matt,'” said Mrs. Barks’ mother, Jean Barks.
The end of her life marked the opportunity for a new lease on life for as many as eight other people who might receive her organs.
Hospital staff, friends and family lined the hallway during a traditional “Honor Walk” meant to commemorate the life of donors as Mrs. Barks was transported through the hospital en route to organ recovery surgery.
“A.J. was an organ donor, and I think it would be honoring her to be able to save people’s lives. This is how she lived,” her mother said. “And if it makes another family’s wonderful Christmas that she was able to save a loved one, I think it would be the best present anyone could offer.”
Mrs. Barks and her husband focused their lives on helping others, friends and family said.
Her husband started as a volunteer and was eventually tapped to serve as executive director of Mobile Care Chicago, a nonprofit that turns old RVs into mobile medical units that provide care to underserved communities in the Chicago area.
Mrs. Barks started as a volunteer and was eventually tapped to lead Chicago Women’s Health Center.
“I remember her coming here in 2011 to volunteer and saying she was ‘looking for her people’ and then saying ‘Oh, here they are,'” said Scout Bratt, co-executive director of the center. “And what she meant was that she’d found people whose values and commitment to feminine and gender justice and reproductive justice aligned with hers — people who wanted to make the world a better place.”
Under Mrs. Barks’ leadership, the center expanded its budget, staff and programming, Bratt said, noting that she had unique ways of showing how much she cared.
“She collected different types of paper throughout the year that she thought would be a good match for someone in particular when it came time to wrap Christmas presents,” Bratt said. “This woman is a shooting star of creativity and generosity, and her parallel was her husband.”
The couple met while studying at Truman State University in Missouri. She worked at a social service agency to support him as he got a graduate degree in philosophy from Duke University. And he worked at a bookstore to support her as she earned a graduate degree in women’s and gender studies from Rutgers University.
“It’s hard to describe them,” said Mrs. Barks’ close friend Emma Leavens. “They weren’t kind in a passive way, and just being who they were prompted those around them to be more kind, help more people, do more good.”
Mrs. Barks was born Aug. 31, 1983, in Missouri to Jean and Melvin Barks. She worked in administration at a doctor’s office. He helped run an automotive machinist shop.
“When A.J. was in the fifth grade, she wrote an essay on the importance of firemen. It won a contest, and she got to go up one of the big firefighter ladders, and she was so excited,” her mother recalled.
“They haven’t made a word that actually describes when a parent loses a child,” she said.
Mrs. Barks and Siemer had two dogs, German shepherd mixes named Korra and Opal, and were known to stop and chat with people in their neighborhood while taking the pups on walks.
The couple moved from Washington, D.C., to Chicago in 2011 to be nearer to friends.
“We would have liked to have them closer to us in Missouri,” her mother said. “But I guess God wanted them in Chicago.”
A Mass to celebrate the lives of the couple is planned at 11 a.m. Jan. 19 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Florissant, Mo.