Elinor Mae Ward

Elinor Mae (Schnepf) Ward was born on January 20, 1934 to Fred and Esther (Oldenberg) Schnepf in Lyon County, Iowa. She grew up on a farm with her four brothers, and graduated from Lester High School. She attended a two-year business college at the University of South Dakota and worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for a car dealer in Decatur, Indiana and for an oil company in Kansas City, Missouri. She met and married Charles Ward in 1958. They later moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and then to Longmont, Colorado in 1962. Elinor was a Girl Scout leader, an accomplished seamstress, and a devoted wife and mother. Elinor enjoyed making things for others, including sewing six wedding dresses and making cross stitch designs into quilts for all of her grandchildren. She enjoyed traveling and spending time with her family.

She is preceded in death by her brothers, James Schnepf, Donald Schnepf, and Gene Schnepf. Elinor is survived by her husband of almost 67 years, Charles Ward, her brother, Gerry Schnepf of Des Moines, Iowa, her children, Terri Ward (Linda) of Berthoud, Pam (John) Petry of Raleigh, NC and Steve (Kelley) Ward of Boulder. Her grandchildren include Lauren(Dan) Lewis, Kevin (Mandy) Holmes, Hilary (Brian)Whitman, Megan (Scott) Hensen, Phillip Ward and Mitchell Ward. She is also survived by seven great grandchildren: Elinor Lewis, Theodore Lewis, Hayes Ward Lewis, Charlie Whitman, Chloe Whitman, Kinley Hensen, and Harper Hensen. Elinor will be greatly missed and remembered fondly by all who knew her.

A celebration of life will be held on August 12, 2024 at 11:00am, at the Ahlberg Funeral Home in Longmont, Colorado, with a reception to follow at the home of Charles Ward. The family requests that donations be made in honor of Elinor to Alzheimer's Association, act.alz.org, to support and accelerate research.