A young woman from Council Bluffs, Iowa, died on June 8, 2026, just two days after celebrating her 26th birthday, leaving behind a community of people whose lives she had touched in ways both big and small.
Makenzi Nichole Kern, known to nearly everyone as “Kenz,” passed away from unexpected health complications while surrounded by close friends on a trip to St. Barthelemy Island in the Caribbean.
She had been born on June 6, 2000, and by all accounts, she spent every one of those 26 years showing up for the people around her. Friends described the final trip as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
According to those who were with her, Makenzi had tried a seabob for the first time in St. Barths and loved it so much that her friends had to practically pull her out of the water.
A Life Defined by Kindness and Quiet Humor
Makenzi grew up in Council Bluffs and graduated from Lewis Central High School in 2018. She went on to Iowa State University, where she studied Human Development and Family Studies and cheered for the Cyclones.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in 2022 and kept many of the friendships she built there long after graduation.
After college, she began her career at the YMCA of Greater Omaha, first as a Youth and Family Director and later as Membership Director at the Armbrust Branch. Those who worked with her remembered her as someone who never wanted to let people down.
That quality had apparently been with her since childhood. Her family recalled that as a little girl on the playground, she would let every other kid go down the slide before her, telling them she would get her turn later.
She was not someone who sought the spotlight. People close to her said she preferred to stay in the background, slipping in a well-timed joke or sarcastic comment just when the moment called for it.
Her father, Chris Kern, apparently passed that sharp wit down to her. Even so, people were drawn to her naturally. She had a way of turning strangers into friends without seeming to try.
Makenzi loved the water. She had once talked her mother into going swimming at a Disney World pool in the middle of a rainstorm.
She enjoyed boating with her dad and water skiing when she got the chance. She was also known for her deep bond with her sister, Delani, with whom she had recently moved in. The two argued the way sisters do, but people who knew them said there was never any doubt they would go to the ends of the earth for each other.
She is survived by her mother, Teri Dietchler; her father, Chris Kern; her sister, Delani Kern; her boyfriend, Alan Dungan; her stepsibling, Kyleigh Austin and Alex Smart, and her grandparents. She also leaves behind her beloved cat, Dusty.
Celebration of Life services are still being planned. She was 26 years old.
