Tina Christy

Ellis Ernestine Christy, affectionately known as Tina, was born on October 7, 1940. She was the seventh of eight children born to Raymond Gay Armstead and Gladys Gail Jett of Clendenin, West Virginia.

Tina met her husband, Irv, in March of 1959 when Irv returned to Lackland Air Force Base after a Tour of Duty on the island of Crete. They married three months later on July 3, 1959. Tina was Irv’s perfect fit, bringing balance and love to his life.

Tina worked at St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, Texas and was also a secretary at a local Air Base. In 1963, Irv and Tina moved with their firstborn son, Irv, from San Antonio to Denver, Colorado. Twelve years later, she helped her husband launch their business, Apollo Credit Agency, performing bookkeeping and many other tasks. Once established, she chose to spend more time at home raising her children, Irv and Andy.

In 1985, Irv and Tina sold their business and moved on to their next adventure in Bozeman, Montana, where they spent the next fifteen years volunteering for MMAP (Mobile Missionary Assistance Program) traveling all around the country working and serving Christian schools, camps, and churches from their fifth wheel RV camper.

In 2000, they moved from Bozeman to Grand Junction, CO

Tina loved fishing and camping with her family. She enjoyed playing games like Dominos, Canasta, and Trouble. Spending many evenings in the camper playing Yahtzee and Rook, she was also an avid reader, often completing one book in a day. When she wasn’t reading or caught up in a story on the Hallmark Channel, she was sewing, beading, and jewelry making. Tina also loved flowers, but especially orange poppies.

A favorite of children, both friends and strangers, it was magical to see the connection she was able to quickly make with youngsters in restaurants and even in passing cars. A supporter of the underdog, she often rooted athletes on tv, chanting, “Go, buddy, go!”

Tina was earnestly involved in church, faithfully contributing her time, prayers, and resources. She was a quiet person who enjoyed ladies’ Bible studies and always found time to do her lesson, taking lots of notes and preparing for the lesson ahead. She also read her Bible through each year for several years and went through the Navigators’ 2-7 Memory Class, keeping the little packet of all sixty-three verses with her name on the outside. Remarkably, her family never heard her curse, use vulgar language, criticize, or complain about another person.

She will be sorely missed by her family and loved ones.

She is survived by her husband, Irv of Grand Junction, CO, her two children, Irvan Jr. of Ft. Collins, CO (Spouse Lynn) and Andy of Muscatine, Iowa; eight grandchildren: Dana, Jeff, Jessica, Deanna, Stephen, Kendall, Trinity, and Owen; and seven great-grandchildren: Emma, James, Mary, Travis, Owen, Miles, and Alexa, and by her one remaining sibling Norma Montgomery of Richmond, VA

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MartinMortuary.com for the Christy family.