1/4/1965 – 10/21/2024
Kansas City, MO
Allegra Eve Dalton died Monday, October 21, at University Health Truman Medical Center after being struck by a vehicle while crossing a street in downtown Kansas City, Mo. She was an incomparable person who made an indelible mark on the lives of her family, friends, colleagues, and countless others who she cared for as a nurse, bonded with as a neighbor or through shared interests, or who otherwise came into her orbit. We are devastated by her loss.
Allegra was born April 1, 1965, at Grace New Haven (Conn.) Hospital to Jim and Melissa Woelfel, kicking off nearly 60 years of constant misspelling and mispronunciation of her first and last names. After a year in St. Andrews, Scotland, they moved to Lawrence, Kan., and Jim and Melissa divorced. Jim and Judy Dutton were married in 1968, and Judy adopted Allegra and her older sister Skye; a third sister, Sarah, was born three years later. Growing up, Allegra took ballet for many years, played piano, and sang in school choirs. The family spent her third grade year in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she won a school contest for reciting Robert Burns poetry with the most authentic Scottish accent. In Lawrence, she attended Schwegler Elementary, South Junior High, and Lawrence High (class of 1982), making lifelong friends along the way. Her family grew to include her stepmother, Sarah Trulove, and stepsiblings Ann and Paul, with Jim’s remarriage in 1982.
Following coursework at the University of Kansas and Wright Business College, Allegra earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Washburn University in 1989 and worked as a legal secretary, first in Topeka and then in Tulsa, Okla. While living in Tulsa, she decided to pursue nursing, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the Langston University School of Nursing in 1994. After graduating, she returned to Kansas, and began her nursing career in Ottawa while living in Lawrence.
Fate (or more accurately, her cousin David) brought Allegra together with James Joerke during a visit to the Russian Far East, where David and James were serving in the Peace Corps in the mid-1990s. They eloped in 1998 and celebrated with a stop at Taco Bell (as one does) on their way to shop for houses, settling in Kansas City’s South Plaza/Brookside neighborhood. Two years later, they welcomed the love of their lives, daughter Sylvia Skye. Allegra’s love for Sylvia was all-encompassing, to infinity and back an infinite number of times. As a mother she was deeply devoted, endlessly creative, and a fierce protector and advocate for Sylvia through numerous obstacles and health challenges. Sylvia’s intelligence, humor, caring, and strength as an adult are a reflection of Allegra’s and James’ love and parenting.
Allegra brought the same commitment, wisdom, integrity, and general awesomeness to her nursing career. After Ottawa, she worked briefly at Overland Park Regional, followed by eight years as a cardiovascular ICU nurse at North Kansas City Hospital. She left bedside nursing for several years to become an independent patient navigator, allowing more time to devote to her family. She later returned to work in a hospital setting, joining KU Medical Center in 2012, first as a cardiac rehab nurse and later as a case manager, becoming an Accredited Case Manager (ACM-RN) and applying her expertise in new ways, including research and process improvement.
Throughout their 20+ years in Brookside, Allegra and James built a large circle of friends and neighbors who became like family. To the constant amazement and occasional exhaustion of her more introverted family members, Allegra was a consummate extrovert, connecting quickly and genuinely with people from all parts of her life. She was quick to take action when someone needed help or when a cause needed support, often taking Sylvia with her as she demonstrated for Medicaid expansion, took supplies to Harvesters, or visited a friend, relative, or client who needed her.
When James took a job in Grand Marais, Minn., in 2020, they became a “bi-coastal” couple – James on the shores of Lake Superior and Allegra near the banks of the Missouri River. Commuting back and forth frequently, they loved becoming part of the community, frequenting the World’s Best Donuts, and, together with Sylvia, exploring the beautiful North Shore region. In 2022, they sold their beloved home in South Plaza, and Allegra fulfilled a long-time wish of moving downtown, first to the River Market and then to the Library District. True to form, these moves gave Allegra the chance to make even more friends. She loved being in the city, decorating her condo with her trademark style, joining a book club and writer’s group, meeting her sisters for weekly margaritas or First Fridays, and taking her dog Poppy on long walks through downtown. Following an idyllic family vacation to Greece this spring, she was looking forward to more – more travel, more laughter, and more time doing things she enjoyed with people she loved.
In addition to James and Sylvia, Allegra is survived by her parents, James Woelfel and Judy Dutton, both of Lawrence; sisters Skye Church of Tulsa and Sarah (Matt) Gowen of Prairie Village, Kan.; nieces Jessica (Ethan) Kono and Josie Gowen; nephew Marshall Gowen; great-niece Heidi Kono; parents-in-law Gert Joerke of Frankenmuth, Mich., and Erika Joerke of Bay City, Mich.; sister-in-law Leslie (Mike Beckert) Joerke of Brighton, Mich.; aunts, uncles, cousins; Melissa’s husband Phil Budden and his daughters; stepsiblings Ann (Doug Hinton) Trulove and Paul (Lona) Trulove and their families; and too many friends to name. We want to recognize the doctors, nurses, and other staff at Truman who took such exemplary care of Allegra and treated her and our family with compassion, dignity, and kindness. Thanks also to the Midwest Transplant Network for fulfilling Allegra’s wish to help others as an organ and tissue donor.
She was predeceased by her grandparents Warren and Frances Woelfel and Marshall and Ethelyn Dutton; stepmother Sarah Trulove; birth mother Melissa Hardie; cousins Gregory Stuckey, Rosemary Cody, and Nate Dutton; and dear friend Ann Switzer.
A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at The Bauer in Kansas City’s Crossroads district. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Amethyst Place, the KU Med Endowment Fund, Midwest Transplant Network, or another organization that helps care for others in our community. Better yet, do something: volunteer, organize, vote, show up. Get outside. Crack wise, make someone laugh, have a beer. Talk to your neighbors. Care for your people. Walk your dog. Keep on going. Live.
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