Mary E Jenkins

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins was born on November 25, 1916 in Des Moines, Iowa, the 4th of 5 children born to Charles Frederick and Mary Lucille Jackson Spann. Prior to her birth her parents were Quaker missionaries to Kenya Colony, East Africa. The family later moved to Wichita, Kansas where Mary Elizabeth attended public schools. She met Charles Boyd Jenkins at the Free Methodist Church, located then at 2nd & Seneca and they were married on June 2, 1935. To this union five children were born: Mary Lou, John Warner, Judith Esther, Janet Ruth and Jean Elizabeth. The family lived in Wichita, Kansas, then LaJunta, Colorado, later McPherson, Kansas and then Phillipsburg, Kansas where they were part of the Wesleyan Church. In 1949 the family moved to Aurora, Colorado and worshipped at the Free Methodist Church located then at 14th & Iola. Her husband, Boyd, was a construction worker, as was her father. They built the sanctuary of the Aurora Free Methodist Church. Mary Elizabeth was a homemaker and their home was always a gathering place for new friends that they invited home from church. Mary Elizabeth was a seamstress and also a gifted artist. She loved the Lord and in her later years she became an intercessor in prayer for her growing family. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sisters, Esther Lucille Gerrild Cook, and Kathryn Louise Weber, her brother, Charles Warner Spann, her husband, Charles Boyd Jenkins, a daughter, Janet Ruth Hershner and a great-granddaughter, Marie Addison Jenkins. After Boyd died she became a charter member of the Living Tower Free Methodist Church in Aurora. She is survived by one brother, Robert (Ruth) Spann and by her children, Mary Lou (Wayne) Lawton, John Warner (Marlene) Jenkins, Judith Esther Jenkins, Jean Elizabeth Jenkins and a son-in-law, John Doyle Hershner Jr. She leaves 12 grandchildren: Miriam Elizabeth (Tim) Nissley, Ruth Elaine (Paul) Stewart, John David (Peggy) Jenkins, Patricia Ann (David) Zahnow, Stephen Warner (Rhonnda) Jenkins, Julee Beth (Dustin) Christensen, Valerie Celeste (Kelley) Ditzenberger, Robert Douglas (Ester) Johnson, Lance Phillip Johnson, Laura Elizabeth (Scott) Kaiser, John D. “Jake” Hershner, Kelli Marie (Michael) Behrend and 37 great grandchildren. Mary Elizabeth was living at the Clermont Park Christian Living Center when she died on February 4, 2012. She was 95 years of age on November 25, 2011. She was laid to rest at Olinger Eastlawn Memorial Gardens in Aurora, Colorado.