Jeanne T. Kelsey

Montie Jeanne Taylor Kelsey was born September 6, 1930, to Vermont (Grubb) and Purvis Curtis Taylor, in Nottoway County, Virginia. When she was two years old, her mother took their two little girls back home

to her family home in Mathews County, so although she was technically from a broken home, in reality

she grew up as one of 13 and she and her sister were more or less raised by her grandparents. When she

was 12, the family moved to their new home down and across the road where they even had indoor

plumbing and electricity!

There were only eleven grades in their little school, and when she graduated from high school at the age

of 16, she went to live with her mother’s older sister, Bess, in Washington, DC, where she was the “big”

sister to Nancy and Bob. She went to secretarial school and then worked for the United States Post Office

Headquarters in DC.

Don was in the Air Force in Washington, DC, at the time and they met at church—and the rest is history!

They were married about five months later, on November 28, 1953, and they remained very involved with

the older youth at Fountain Memorial Baptist Church. They made many lifelong friends during their time

in Washington, DC, and Susan was born before they moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Bill was born

while Don finished his education. They moved from Missouri to New York where Don worked for IBM and

Jeanne enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom to Susan, Bill, and Beth, who was born there. While living in

New York, they helped to start the Vassar Road Baptist Church.

In 1966 the family was transferred to Colorado where all three kids grew up and married. Jeanne loved

being a stay-at-home mom and frequently timed her bread-making so that it would be coming out of the

oven just as the kids got home from school. She eventually went to work for Ball Aerospace and about a

year later went back to work for the government—initially for the Plant Division at the National Bureau of

Standards up on Broadway in Boulder. They were transferred to Florida in 1986 and she worked at Patrick Air Force Base enjoying many unique experiences with the space program until they transferred back to Boulder County in 1990. She then worked for NOAA until retiring in 1992 and enjoyed traveling thecountry for several years. After getting their fill of all the traveling, they enjoyed being Arizona snowbirds

in the winters making many new friends. During their traveling days they built an apartment over the

garage at the farm with Beth and Greg and that was their “home base” until they sold the farm in

Missouri in 2005 and moved back to Longmont. Don and Jeanne have actually lived in their home on

Clover Basin with Sue and the kids, and now Jim, longer than anywhere else!

Wherever they’ve been they have actively served the Lord, building relationships with family and friends,

intentionally investing in the lives of each of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, aunts

and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews, as well as the many friends God has given them along the

way. She loved Bible Study and being part of the Lunch Bunch at work, and one of Jeanne’s highest

priorities was making birthday cards each year—her goal was to try to finish making all the birthday cards

for the year by the end of January! This year it was much more difficult with all the hospice drugs, but she

persevered and finished the last of the 200+ cards on her list on February 4th. She always prayed for each person as she made the card and then each month throughout the year, she’d take the cards out for the following month, and pray for each person again as she wrote a note, signed, stamped, and mailed each card.

The greatest legacy she has left for her family and friends is a legacy of faith. As a child, she recognized

her sin, understood the love of God that caused Him to send His only Son to die in her place, and received the gift of salvation He offered. She was baptized in Queen’s Creek as a testimony to others that she belonged to the Lord and her desire was to live for Him as His newly adopted child.

She never consciously chose a life verse, but Romans 8:28 is the verse that she lived! “And we know that

God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His

purpose.” She was thoroughly convinced that God’s ways and His plans are best, and ultimately for our

greatest good and His glory! When life was difficult, she often reminded herself (and others!) of the little

verse, “and it came to pass…”—adding her own interpretation, “just remember—it never came to stay!”

In other words, God isn’t finished yet… just wait and trust Him….

Her granddaughter Sarah summarized her life and impact on others well:

“It's pretty hard to write about someone who spent her whole life focused on others. How do you do

justice to someone who made it her life to care for others? An “about you” is cool, but not easy when

the actual substance of who you are is about everybody else.

You can give a biography, which is essentially what this is... but GRANDMA herself—she's in how I

read books to my kids. She's in how you feel obligated to do stain removal on clothes… Zout before

washing clothes 😂 and the sink being empty of dishes before bed...

Grandma is the tone in your occasional rant, cuz let's be honest—when she was upset, she could

really say her mind, then she was silent on the matter... Grandma is those fingernails that were

always filed and clear-coated. The hummingbirds. She was the "bless your hearts", "and it came to

pass... never meant to stay", but she was also the one to say it was better to have frustrated kids than

a frustrated mother! 😄

It's tricky to flesh Grandma out, I think, because her investment was so totally poured into everyone

else. But if I was focusing on HER, I would target the things that made her human. She's a saint, but

she's REAL.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, Jeanne was saying that she was sure God had blessed her more than anyone else on earth! And she didn’t say that because her life has been easy—only because He faithfully led and carried her all the way—through all the struggles and challenges of life and even death—including the deaths of her grandparents, parents, two sisters, a son-in-law, their only son, Bill, and numerous great-grandchildren that she’s already begun to enjoy…

She is survived by her husband, Don, daughters Sue (Jim) and Beth (Greg), twenty-nine grandchildren—

because she considers each of the grandkid’s spouses to belong to her just as much as the original kids— and 42 great-grandchildren here on earth, as well as many dearly loved nieces, nephews and cousins… (She had really planned and hoped to be able to cuddle #43 in July, but God had other plans for her…)

Most of those who knew her well would say two things come to mind when they think of her

She was known as the Laundry Queen, “Count Your Blessings” was her favorite song, and she loved her

popcorn—no flavorings or butter—just salt! She was also notorious for picking up coffee mugs to clean

them before people were finished…. Mostly, she loved people and she loved serving the Lord and

others—it was a real struggle for her when her body was no longer physically able to help and serve in

practical ways, but she never really gave up. She continued to persevere and fight to do everything she

could for her body in the way of exercise and eating and drinking to keep up her strength and abilities as

long as possible, and she was happy when we found ways that she could sit and still help—the last time

she helped fold laundry at the kitchen table after dinner was just two weeks before she died; it was the

last time she was able to make it upstairs on the chair lift.

One of the last times the pastors came to visit, they asked her for another song we could sing (because we had sung “Count Your Blessings” the time before), and she suggested “Make Me a Blessing”. It was very fitting because that was her prayer—that God would use her to bless others until the day He called her home…

Out in the highways and byways of life,

Many are weary and sad;

Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,

Making the sorrowing glad.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love,

Tell of His power to forgive;

Others may trust Him if only you prove

True every moment you live.

Give as ‘twas given to you in your need

Love as the Master loved you;

Be to the helpless a helper indeed,

Unto your mission be true.

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing,

Out of my life may Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today.

God answered that prayer…. She was consistently positive and encouraging and over the years, many

were blessed by her words, “bless your heart!” or “I love you so much!” and her thankful, grateful, kind

and loving spirit was clearly seen throughout her life in her ready smile and encouraging words—even in

her steadily weakening smiles and whispers until the last two days when she could no longer respond at

all. She loved having so many of the grandkids and great-grandkids around during her last two weeks

when she was confined to bed. She loved all the pictures and gifts they gave her; she loved hearing them

thumping around playing around upstairs, and they took turns holding her hand and snuggling with her on

her bed. She encouraged them that death was not the end and reminded them that we all have to die

sometime. She comforted Loralyn’s broken heart by telling her that it would all be okay, reminding her

that she would see her again because she knew that they both knew the Lord. She thoroughly enjoyed

finishing the rest of George Mueller’s biography as her great-granddaughter, Kelsey, spent many hours

reading the last 14 chapters of the book aloud to her when she was unable to finish it herself. At the end

of the book, she gave Kelsey a great big smile and thanked her! Even her hospice caregivers said that the

very last things she whispered to them were, “Thank you so much… I love you!” We’ll always remember

her simple, unshakable faith that was clearly seen in her sweet spirit, quick smile and laughter, her loving

heart, and gentle and encouraging ways.

Her relationship with the Lord was the most important thing in her life—and she was ready for Him to

take her home. She had no fear, because she knew that the best was yet to come…

Her deepest desire was that each and every family member and friend would know and trust the Lord as

she did. She has prayed for some of you for many, many years, and even now she would rejoice to know

that she will see you again because you too have trusted Him as your Savior and Lord.

If she were here, we believe she would also say to each of us: “I want you to know and love my Jesus as I

do! He is the One who made me who I am. He is the One that made my life on earth worth living and

now I am safely at home with Him and more alive now than I have ever been! My greatest joy would be

to know that somehow He has used my life to help you see Him and His love for you more clearly. Won’t

you trust Him today? I love you so much!”