Leora Frances Musgrave

Leora Frances (Fetters) Musgrave was born on June 25, 1946 to Warren and Marveline Fetters in Burlington, Colorado, where both of her parents’ families lived. She was the eldest of two daughters. She was named after her paternal grandmother and shares her middle name with her mother.

Leora regarded her childhood home as Elizabeth, Colorado, where the family moved in 1952, together with Marveline’s mother, Sarah Jane (Jenny) Barnhart. She attended school in Elizabeth from 1st grade through her junior year of high school. In January of 1963, she transferred to Kiowa High School, where she graduated after completing a correspondence course from American Schools.

While living in Elizabeth, she met her next door neighbor Mary Ann Schriner (Anderson) who would become her lifelong best friend. In December 1957, Leora’s sister Valeria Michelle Fetters was born. Since they grew up in the same home as their grandma, Jenny Barnhart had a big influence on their lives. From her, Leora learned the importance of family, faith, honesty, and respect. She also learned to sew clothes and embroider, and how to make jelly and pie.

Warren and Marveline taught Sunday school and the youth group at the First Baptist Church in Elizabeth which included children of a family from the neighboring town of Kiowa, the Musgraves. Leora said that she had known Ralph Musgrave since she was 5 years old and thought he was the “ornery kid from Castle Rock”. Her parents liked Ralph better than she did, so they did not mind Ralph being over all the time. After attending the church for about ten years together, Leora decided he wasn’t from Castle Rock, but instead Kiowa; he wasn’t so ornery; and actually not that bad. Ralph began to ask to drive Leora to church and sit together. There were many Sundays that Ralph went home with Leora after church and stayed for dinner. When Warren was asked, he said Ralph was his best friend, so it is not known if Ralph went home with Leora because the Fetters had a TV; to hang out with Warren; or if he indeed wanted to be with Leora.

On Christmas 1963, Ralph proposed to Leora. At 2 pm on Sunday, March 8, 1964 they were married in Burlington and made their home in Fort Morgan. After 7 months, they moved to Littleton where in July 1965, they had a son, Kent. A year later, in August, their daughter Kim was born. In 1988, their son-in-law Rich joined the family, followed by a grand-daughter Jordan and a grandson Logan. They continued to live and raise their children in their Littleton home for over 30 years, and attended Arapahoe Road Baptist Church.

Throughout her life, Leora loved kids, so doing in-home child care while staying home with her own children was a natural choice. She also worked various retail jobs at Sears, Sherwin Williams, Jim Dandy, and went back to caring for children at Kinder Care and MOPs.

In her free time she enjoyed playing her piano, sewing clothes, including her daughter’s wedding dress, going out to dinner, theater, concerts and planning activities for the family. She always had an “activity calendar” hanging on the refrigerator with plans for the family weekends. It was a way she could enjoy spending time with her family.

Family was a priority to her and it was important that all of her immediate family and her children and grandchildren live close by to be able to do things together and share their lives. She always said that none of them could move farther than a local telephone call, although Kent moved to the Phoenix area in 1997.

Leora and Ralph lived in Littleton for the rest of their 41 years together until March 5th, 2005, when Ralph lost his 12 year struggle against cancer.

In 2005, Jerry Day became part of the family, and he and Kent would visit Leora and the family in Littleton often. Leora continued to live in her home in Littleton until 2016 when she moved to her present home in Gilbert, Arizona to live near Kent and Jerry. She finally got to live in the desert because she always preferred the heat over the Colorado cold.

For the last several years, Leora suffered with diabetes, had high blood pressure, and was in chronic pain. On October 6th, she returned to Littleton with Kent and Jerry for a vacation to see the rest of her family and was able to spend a week enjoying time with them. On October 12, the day before she was to return to Arizona, she was complaining of back pain and asked to be taken to Littleton hospital. It was discovered that she had several blockages in her heart and had endured multiple heart attacks in the past. The damage was too great to be repaired and at 8:30 pm her struggle ended.

She has now joined her husband Ralph, and her father Warren. Waiting to join them in heaven are Ralph and Leora’s children, Kent (Jerry Day) Musgrave of Gilbert, AZ and Kim (Rich) Balkema of Littleton, CO; granddaughter, Jordan Balkema of Littleton, CO; grandson, Logan Balkema of Loveland, CO; her mother, Marveline Fetters of Littleton, CO; sister, Valeria (Abshir Mohammed) Fetters of Littleton, CO; niece, Iftin Abshir of Littleton, CO; and close friend Mary Ann Anderson, the Anderson children (Brenda, Sheila and Harold), and their families of Franktown, CO.

A visitation for Leora will be held from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Friday, October 19, 2018 at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary & Cemetery, 6601 South Colorado Blvd, Centennial, CO 80121. A funeral service will begin at 2:00 pm, Friday, October 19, 2018 at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary followed immediately by a committal service in the cemetery at 3:00 pm. A celebration of life reception will occur Friday, October 19, 2018 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the home of Kim and Rich Balkema, 871 Altair Dr, Littleton, CO 80124.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.olingerchapelhill.com for the Musgrave family.