Genevieve Louise Kisch

With gratitude to God for how He has blessed our family, we announce the passing of a gentle daughter of the Living God, a wife, mother, sister, grandmother and great-grandmother. Genevieve Louise Kisch, known to her family and long-time friends as Jennie, died and went to heaven on October 28, 2024, in Tucson, Arizona. Genevieve was a proud coal miner’s daughter, born at home in Roseytown near Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Her father and mother, Stephen Paul Placko and Mary Elizabeth (Yurko) Placko, moved their family across the United States to Tucson, Arizona in 1948, when Genevieve was in junior high school.

In Tucson, she attended Roskruge, Mansfield and Catalina Junior High Schools and graduated from Tucson High School in 1954. She held jobs after high school as a courier with the Tucson Credit Bureau and as a telephone operator with American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). She met her Husband, Louis “Lou” U.C. Kisch in August, 1957, while working at the Southern Arizona Bank & Trust Company. They were engaged on Christmas Eve 1957, and then were married on June 13, 1959. Genevieve and Lou had five children: Loretta (Stan) Martin, Lorraine (Ramon) Scoble, Glenn (Miriam) Kisch, Leslie Kisch, and LuAnn (Sam) Carter, who were raised in both Tucson and Glendale, Arizona. 

Genevieve was a dedicated homemaker to her husband and five children. She was passionate about classical music. She composed her own symphony music in high school, learned to play the piano, and after her children were grown, began to take music classes at Glendale Community College, where her enthusiasm was cherished by the next generation of music lovers in all of her classes. Her other interests included sewing, cross stitching, crocheting, baking and running many 10K races. Her only competitor while racing was herself and she absolutely loved to run. Toward the end of her beautiful life, acrylic painting was added to her accomplishments and she finished five beautiful paintings. After retiring from a second career as a customer service representative at Valley National Bank of Arizona where she worked for six years, Genevieve helped Lou build a cabin near Happy Jack, Arizona. In 1992 they moved from Glendale back to Tucson, where she partnered with Lou to build two more homes west of Saguaro National Park West. 

When they took breaks from home building, Genevieve and Lou traveled the country in their camper, making 17 cross-country trips together and covering every corner of the United States, visiting friends and family where they could. Genevieve loved reading her Bible, and many other books as well, and greatly valued her church community group and other women’s groups from their church, the Vineyard Christian Community in downtown Tucson. Genevieve was devoted to God and to her family. While we dearly miss her love, kindness and warmth, we know for certain that she is at home in Heaven, whole again, without pain or suffering, filled with joy, and radiant as she beholds the glory of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Genevieve is preceded in death by her parents Steve and Mary Placko, brothers George (Pauline) Placko and Stephen (Dorothy) Placko and her sister Antoinette (Wayne) Hiatt. Genevieve is survived by her husband Lou, her sister, Maria Elena (Mike) Sanford, her five children, twelve grandchildren, Celeste (Martin) Hannah, Evelyn Martin, Haley (Kisch) Dahlberg, Sean Kisch, Erin Kisch, Margret Fye, Henry Fye, Caroline Fye, Elijah Jones, Sarah Jones, Isaac Jones, Benjamin Jones, and one great-grandchild, Alice Hannah. A memorial service will be held at 10 am on January 18, 2025, at the Vineyard Christian Community, 625 N 2nd Ave, Tucson, Arizona.