Jennie Lou Lillpop

Jennie Sims was born February 17, 1946, in Blue Island, IL, to Edward F. Sims and Vera F. Sims (Kreydich). Jennie spent her childhood with her brother and parents in Missouri and Illinois. She enjoyed frequent visits from aunts, uncles, and cousins. She graduated from Sherrard High School and joked that classmates still called her “the new girl” although she moved to Sherrard in early elementary school. A true farm girl at heart, she worked from sunup ‘til sundown. From baling hay and cooking meals for the farmhands on her parents' farm, showing her horse and going on trail rides, to sharing her joys of planting a garden and raising chickens; she enjoyed being outdoors and seeing things grow.

She was passionate about sewing, quilting, and needlework, and earned a scholarship to design and create costumes for the theater department at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. During that summer she fell in love with Colorado and transferred to Colorado State University where she could study Home Economics. She was 22 when she married Thomas E. Lillpop in June 1968 in Fort Collins, CO, her sweetheart whom she met at the CSU square dancing club. She used to say that she robbed the cradle; Tom's parents had to give their permission for them to get married because he was not yet of age. They consented reluctantly since they weren't sure it was a good idea for him to marry before finishing college. Days after the wedding, Jennie graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from Colorado State University and signed a contract in Longmont School District. Tom and Jennie were married for 52 years, and enjoyed many hiking and camping trips throughout Colorado.

Tom and Jennie moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1972 (after he graduated from college, of course!). They raised their four daughters, Corene, Christine, Amy, and Kendra. Jennie managed the household and did some substitute teaching. She had a strong sense of how things should be and raised her four daughters accordingly. She was a Sunday school teacher and 4-H leader. With church and youth group activities, 4-H projects all year, music lessons, sporting events and other school activities, Jennie still somehow managed to go back to school to get her English degree. Even if it meant waking up early to listen to her linguistics tapes under the cherry tree, she had an amazing drive to accomplish her plans every day. She earned a Master of Arts from Adams State College in 2002. She taught Home Economics at East Middle School and English Language Arts at Grand Junction High School and retired in 2014. A highlight of her retirement was a trip to Alaska.

She was a compassionate teacher who truly sought to know her students. She could never read a book just for fun, always planning how to teach it and link it to her lesson plans. She sought to help students through their challenges and never stopped caring for them. They were always on her mind as she formulated ways to impart wisdom for life in addition to English curricula with which they were tasked.

Jennie was such an avid gardener that she would plant seeds in February under grow lights and eagerly await the ground thawing enough for springtime planting. Whether it was flowers, vegetables, or houseplants, she was always cultivating right up until the frost. She frequently offered to share cuttings and seedlings. Many of us have "plants from Jennie's garden" in our houses and yards. She cooked, baked, canned, and dehydrated her fresh produce. Through the winter she would gather seeds or order new ones from catalogs, draw out plans for rotating plant beds the following year, and keep some plants indoors on the windowsill awaiting warm enough temperatures to survive outside.

She tackled her leukemia treatments the way she tackled life. Jennie was very much a Type A personality, rule follower, and perfectionist. There was no going partway. If one treatment didn't work, then it was time to research the next and keep moving forward. She sought to get everything to go her way – the right way. Right to the end of her life she was making plans for what was next, in her garden, in her sewing room(s!!) and for teaching her grandkids how to cook, sew, and garden, then filling them up with sugar before sending them home. She was truly a remarkable woman and will be missed by all who love her. Many family, friends, colleagues, and students were blessed to know her throughout her 74 years. Jennie returned home to the Lord June 15, 2020, after a 19-month battle with Leukemia (AML).

Jennie was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband, Tom Lillpop; her daughters and grandchildren, Corene Jack (husband, Stanley and children, Nathaniel, Benjamin, and Katelyn), Christine Houdek (husband, Ryan), Amy Gustavson (husband, Eric and children, Espen, Arwen, Azlyn), and Kendra Samart (husband, Monthep and children, Kyle and Kayla); and brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Kathleen Panter of Whitewater, CO.

Services at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary, Friday, June 19, 2020 at 11:00am. Flowers can be sent in Jennie’s honor to Callahan-Edfast.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in Jennie’s name to blood cancer research: 1. Online https://giving.cu.edu/fund/pollyea-leukemia-research-fund, 2. Mail option: University of Colorado Foundation, P.O. Box 17126, Denver, CO.