Memorial
Summer Michael Ferguson, 26 was born October 8, 1996, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Kathleen McLellan and Michael Ferguson. During her school years, she attended Adair-Casey while living in both Casey and later Adair and attended Cedar Rapids Washington High School while living with her dad. She graduated from Adair-Casey in 2015.
While in school, Summer participated in softball, basketball, and band, playing clarinet. At Washington, she marched in the marching band. Art was one of her favorite classes; she excelled at drawing.
Summer worked various jobs until she decided to take classes at Des Moines Area Community College, pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor, nurse, or anesthesiologist. She was doing well until her mother, who became ill with ovarian cancer, eventually died in 2017. From there, she took a nosedive into grief and quit school.
Summer then settled, working as a hotel hospitality clerk for a couple of years, which was a good fit because of her sparkling smile, pleasing personality, and extraordinary people skills. Summer also worked for a while as a website editor, which she found challenging. Then Summer put herself through esthetician school at La James and achieved her goal by graduating and starting work for Rise Skin & Beauty, fitting clients with eyelashes and performing various waxing procedures. When this didn’t quite pay the bills, she acquired her most recent employment as a sales associate for Sleep Number beds.
Summer’s father was tragically murdered in the summer of 2021, and her mission became finding the person responsible. Unfortunately, no arrests were made.
Summer loved concerts! Her favorite artists included Drake and Tech N9ne. She loved the idea of travel, and visited Wyoming, Houston, New Orleans, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, and Spain. She LOVED to shop, favoring Michael Kors purses, and UGGs. She loved giving gifts.
Having struggled with her weight for most of her life, Summer underwent weight loss surgery in 2021, and had lost over one hundred pounds, an accomplishment that made her feel very proud.
Summer also loved dying her hair many different colors over the span of her life, and particularly loved tattoos, which she displayed over many parts of her body. She was extremely active on social media such as Facebook, having literally thousands of friends. She loved EVERYBODY, and everyone loved her. She had a habit of exaggerating everything she said. She had a heart of gold, a jovial, hearty laugh, a dazzling smile, and a one-of-a-kind personality.
In her death, she gifted the world with her organ donations. A 30-yr old received her liver, a 60-yr old got her heart, a child under ten years old received one kidney, and a 31-yr old got her other kidney. She was also able to donate her corneas and other tissues.
Summer is survived by her brother, Justice Ferguson of Adair, IA; a half-brother, Brandon Smith of Clinton, IA; her grandmother, Shirley Ferguson of Cedar Rapids, IA; her dog, Zeus, and cat, Max; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her mother and father and her cousin, Matthew Otto of Urbandale, IA.
All who knew Summer will miss her terribly and the world will certainly have less light in it going forward.
Visitation is from to 2:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday, December 11th, 2022, at the Cedar Memorial Chapel Stateroom. Memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm on Monday, December 12th, 2022, at the Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories.
A livestream of the funeral service may be accessed on the funeral home website under the obituary for Summer Michael Ferguson, under the video tab starting at 1:00 pm on Monday, December 12th, 2022.
In lieu of flowers, any donations may be directed to the family.