Eileen Emily Koepke Stephen

Eileen was born on June 25th, 1936 to August and Emma Koepke who lived near Deer Trail, Colorado on their family farm. She was their only daughter and had two brothers, one older and one younger.

She is survived by her brother James, sons Greg and Geoff, grandchildren Erin, Sean, Danny, Tyler and Shelby and seven great grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband Dean, brother Bobby, her grandson Ryan, and a number of other family and friends, many of whom she will be laid to rest nearby.

Eileen grew up driving tractors, helping in the kitchen to make large dinners to feed the hired hands and doing all of the other farm chores. She helped raise her younger brother James whom she loved dearly. She loved to read and many times was caught reading by her mother, who she said considered it to be lazy when there was so much work to be done. She also learned to keep her intelligence hidden because she was told boys would be intimidated.

When she was about 9 years old, she met Dean Stephen. They were to fall in love and became married in July of 1953. Eileen had a small herd of cattle which they sold to buy a mobile home when they moved to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado. They both received degrees and Eileen’s was in Physical Therapy where she graduated among some of the first women to receive that degree from CU.

Early on she worked for Porter hospital. They spent a few years in California, then returned to Colorado and bought a home in Columbine Hills near Chatfield reservoir. Eileen raised her two boys and worked part time taking them with her at times to clients’ homes. She loved to go camping and fishing with her family. Dean and Eileen bought land near Sedalia, CO and they built their dream home.

She loved sitting on the deck listening to the sounds of nature and looking at the beautiful view. They also farmed some of Eileen’s family farm ground in Deer Trail for many years. Eventually they bought and managed a John Deere farm equipment dealership in Franktown, CO with another couple. Eileen and Dean became the sole owners in a year or two and while Dean operated that business for 30 years, Eileen had her own plans. She started her own PT business called Front Range Therapies and was approached by the Douglas County school system to provide PT for their students that needed it. So she also started Douglas County Therapies. She really enjoyed working with these children that needed some extra help. She ran these businesses successfully for many years. She became tired of the paperwork burden required by Medicare and sold her businesses to a couple of her employees.

Eileen loved Hawaii and they were fortunate enough to travel there many times where she loved to snorkel. Later, Dean and Eileen were able to travel quite a bit in their motorhome to the southwest where Eileen became very interested in geology and they would spend time searching in the desert for unique rocks and attending rock shows.

Eileen had the ability to be very observant and had excellent vision evidenced by the notes she would write about rocks and other things that many people would need a magnifying glass to read. She enjoyed spotting rocks then digging them up, cleaning and polishing them. More than that, she loved to read books and learn about all the different kinds of rocks. She loved being with Dean and her family.

She made huge Christmas stockings because she wanted to put so much in them for everyone, yet they were still not big enough. She was very thoughtful when she spoke and would take her time to get the right words before responding. She was kind and generous, but practical and able to recognize and counter anyone that tried to tease or fool her.

She loved drawing, painting, gardening and learning. Even close to the end she had joined a book club at her facility and had written her thoughts and interpretations of what she was reading. When she met anyone, they would become a friend. She enjoyed talking with her friends and had one friend that she would have long conversations with that she looked forward to every day. She was loved and will be missed and remembered by many.

There will be a graveside service at the Evergreen cemetery in Deer Trail, CO on Friday January 28th, 2022 at 11:00 am.

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