Isabelle "Izzy" Ann Parks

Isabelle “Izzy” Ann Parks, 18, of Fort Collins, Colorado, died on September 16, 2026, after suffering a catastrophic stroke and brain bleed.

Izzy was born June 25, 2008, in Fort Collins, and from the beginning, she seemed to move through the world a little differently. She was gentle and observant, whimsical and creative, deeply sensitive, and remarkably self-aware. A wallflower by nature, she still had a presence that drew people to her. Once you knew Izzy, you loved her.

She was funny, with gentle sarcasm, and weird in all the very best ways. She knew her own mind, was unapologetically herself, and had an extraordinary ability to read a room and understand what others were feeling. She welcomed people as they were, even when it meant tolerating more noise and chaos than her quiet soul naturally preferred.

Izzy loved everything creative. She drew, painted, made pottery, and in recent years became remarkably talented at crochet, turning yarn into art. She had a quiet spirituality and a way of noticing beauty and meaning where others might miss it.

She loved animals, music, reading, camping, nature, and dark and strange stories like Stranger Things. And cheese. That girl loved her cheese, all the cheese, always.

Izzy was also a water child. She loved the ocean, loved being near water, and could happily take three showers a day simply because water brought her peace. It suited her somehow; quiet and powerful, gentle and deep.

At the time of her death, Izzy had just begun her senior year of high school and was already completing college-level coursework to give herself a head start after graduation. At only 18, she still had so much ahead of her.

Izzy was profoundly loved by her mom, Mary; her dad, Jeremy; her bonus mom, Rachael; her brother, Eli; four sets of grandparents; aunts, uncles, cousins; and more friends than could possibly be named. There truly seemed to be no such thing as casually knowing Izzy. She had a way of finding a place in people’s hearts.

Her final act in this life reflected the same generosity with which she lived it.

When Izzy was first asked, while getting her driver’s license, whether she wanted to become an organ donor, she didn’t hesitate. Not even for a second.

On September 16, that decision became heartbreakingly real. Through Donor Alliance, Izzy gave six people the chance to continue their lives. In her final journey through Anschutz Medical Center, physicians, nurses, hospital staff, and members of Donor Alliance lined the halls for an Honor Walk, standing in quiet reverence for a young woman whose life was ending as her gifts were giving others more time.

Her family will forever be grateful for the extraordinary compassion, dignity, and tenderness shown to Izzy throughout those impossible days.

There should have been more birthdays. More artwork. More yarn. More books. More camping trips. More ocean. More cheese. More quiet afternoons. More years for Izzy to keep becoming exactly who she was meant to be.

Instead, those who love her are left to carry her forward: her kindness, creativity, humor, individuality, empathy, sensitivity, and love.

And somewhere, six people will carry pieces of the generosity that came so naturally to her.

Izzy’s family has chosen water cremation, a fitting final care for a girl who found such peace in water.

A Celebration of Life for Izzy will be held Wednesday, September 23, 2026, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Goes Funeral Care in Fort Collins, Colorado. The service will be an intimate gathering for close family and friends. For those unable to attend in person, the service will be livestreamed, and a recording will be available afterward.

Izzy was here for only 18 years.

It was nowhere near long enough.

But she filled those years with enough beauty, kindness, art, and love to leave fingerprints on more lives than she ever could have known.

We love you, Izzy.

Always.