Elaine Bearman Long

July 16, 1927 - March 2, 2016

Elaine Bearman Long, 88, died March 2nd, at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction.

Elaine was born July 16, 1927, in Memphis, Tennessee to A.D. and Bertha Bearman. Growing up in Memphis, she excelled in speech and debate and won several state-wide competitions. Her mother died while she was in high school, and upon graduating high school with honors, she attended Northwestern University and graduated with a BA in Speech and English. While at Northwestern she met Kenneth Long and they were married shortly after her father died in June, 1949.

Moving to Memphis, she had her children, Aaron in 1951 and Beth in 1953. Elaine's brother, Jerry, moved to Colorado Springs to open a hardware store, and in 1956, Elaine and family moved there to help in the business. Soon afterwards, Jerry opened a branch store and the Longs moved to Denver where Ken and Elaine ran the store. Two years later, Jerry sold the store, and Ken became a manufacturer's representative. They formed Ken Long Sales, which still exists as the Long Sales Group run by their daughter, Beth, and son-in-law, Brent.

Elaine was extremely active in the National Council of Jewish Women, serving as a local and national representative. Additionally, she taught religious school at Temple Emanuel for many years. She enrolled in the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, attaining her MSW in 1969. She worked for several years at Jewish Family and Children Service, specializing in psychiatric social work and adoptions. After, she worked with Ken in the family business until Ken retired in 1995.

Elaine was active in many volunteer and social activities in Denver including volunteering at the Denver Zoo and the Denver Art Museum. She was an avid reader and game player, participating in many book clubs and regular bridge and mahjong games. She and Ken enjoyed traveling the world, especially Paris. After Ken died in 2005, she continued her volunteer activities and was very active at Temple Sinai, where she was on the Board of Directors and co-chaired Senior Education until 2012 when she moved to Grand Junction.

In Grand Junction, she established residence at the Fountains and quickly developed friendships. She was active in Congregation Ohr Shalom and acted as the Board of Directors' Parliamentarian. She also began teaching mahjong to members of the synagogue and quickly developed a reputation as an excellent ""mahjong maven"". She loved the friendships she had within the community and especially appreciated her acceptance into synagogue life. She will be remembered for her unceasing devotion to proper grammar, reverence for Robert's Rules of Order, zeal for civil rights, social justice and liberal causes, impressive shoe collection, and love of her grandchildren and great-grandchild (unfortunately she is unavailable to edit this obituary, so please excuse any grammatical errors).

Survivors include son, Aaron (Beth); daughter, Beth Long-Myers (Brent); grandchildren, Rachel LaCount (Aaron), Hannah (Noah Gomes),and Jordan; niece, Kit Howard and her adored great-grandchild, Jonah Ken LaCount. A constant in her life was her best friend, Norma Fried. They shared many adventures together and remained close for almost 60 years.

The family would like to thank her wonderful care providers at St. Mary's Hospital and Larchwood Inns including Oncology and Dr. Wettstein, Cardiology and Dr. Garmany, and all the other amazing, wonderful physicians, nurses and aides whose kind, compassionate care is deeply appreciated. We would also like to express our appreciation to her caregiver and friend, June Sampson.

Graveside service will be at 11:00 a.m., Friday, March 4th, at the Ohr Shalom Cemetery in the Grand Junction Municipal Cemetery at 5th and Unaweep. Reception to follow at the LaCount's.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Congregation Ohr Shalom, General Fund, PO Box 1311, Grand Junction, CO, 81502.