Marlene Joyce Thomas

Marlene was the first child of Kent and Martha Isensee. She was born in Sparta, Wisconsin where she grew up on a dairy farm. Upon graduation from High School, Marlene attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota and in 1958 graduated with a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. She was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. She then moved to Minneapolis and worked at what is now the Hennepin County Hospital as a laboratory technician. While in Minneapolis, she met John Thomas and, after a whirlwind courtship, they were married January 02, 1960. John and Marlene had short stays in Texas and Kansas before settling in Climax, Colorado where John was a mining engineer at the molybdenum mine. Marlene worked at the mine’s hospital. They moved to the Denver area in 1965, ultimately settling in the Green Mountain neighborhood of Lakewood, moving later to Littleton and then to Colorado Springs. John had a successful career as an exploration geologist. Marlene was a homemaker and, once their children were grown, worked in the lab in Children’s Hospital. In their later years, John and Marlene traveled extensively with tours of Peru, Egypt, Africa, Alaska among other destinations. Marlene was preceded in death by John. She is survived by four children, John (Maribel) Thomas, Julia Thomas, Laura (Bill) Nelson, and Jason Thomas, and nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be held next May in Sparta, Wisconsin.