Lena Ruth Hurlbut was born on May 1, 1936, on what at that time was a small cotton farm near Magnet in rural Wharton County, Texas. The house was her grandmothers’—a small, wood-plank dwelling with no electricity and a hand-pump water well not far from the front porch. Learning resilience from her mother Ruth Scribner Miles, Lena grew up with the end of the Great Depression, abandonment by her father, and the homeland austerity required by World War II.
During the war Ruth moved the family from Wharton County to Camp Polk in Louisiana, where Lena and her brother George lived and played with children of other military families as Lena’s step-father prepared for deployment. Afterwards they returned to Wharton, then shortly after that moved to Missouri City where Ruth began work as a beautician. Lena became a drum majorette at Missouri City High School and graduated class salutatorian in 1954.
Lena moved to Houston after graduation and took a job in the mail room of Gulf Oil Corp. While delivering an executive’s mail one day, she caught the eye of Joseph Hurlbut, the executive’s son who was visiting the office before deploying to Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas. The executive’s matchmaking was successful, in part because Joe’s humble upbringing in rural East Texas was similar to Lena’s in many ways. The two were married in 1955, beginning a rich life partnership covering nearly 64 years and thousands of miles.
Their first child, David, was born in 1956 while they were living in Houston. Three years later the small family left the warm Texas Gulf Coast and moved to the rugged Danforth Hills of northwest Colorado, where Joe began a long career with Texaco, Inc. as a petroleum engineer. Their first Colorado home was Wilson Creek, a small company residential camp for a dozen field-based employees and their families situated between Craig and Meeker. Texaco transferred the family around the oil patches of western Colorado several times, but both of their next children were born in Craig: Michael in 1961 and Daniel in 1963.
It was in Wilson Creek that Lena learned to apply her childhood fortitude to the sparse life of Colorado’s Western Slope. As she did when a child, Lena found friendship and laughter in places where getting by was gritty and slow. Over time, the family prospered as Joe moved into management and the transfers were to cities—Denver; Casper, Wyoming; and Midland, Texas. But wherever home was, Lena kept her down-to-earth humor and no-nonsense frugality. It even extended to her recreation. As a self-taught jade expert, Lena spent many days prospecting under the expansive prairie skies of south-central Wyoming, sometimes bringing Joe with her but never being timid about striking out just with her close friend Ruby Talkington. When in town, she enjoyed bowling and served for three years as secretary of the Wyoming State Junior Bowling Association. She was also one of country legend George Strait’s most avid fans.
Lena and Joe moved to Littleton, Colorado in 1989—the last move they would make for the company. By the time Joe retired from Texaco in 1994, Lena was the matriarch of an extending family. Sons Michael and Daniel raised families of their own in the Denver Metro area, and in 2007 David moved with his family from Austin, Texas to Golden, Colorado.
Lena was hospitalized on April 7, 2019, and moved to home hospice care on May 12. She passed peacefully in the early hours of May 24, in the company of her loving husband Joseph. Lena is survived by her husband; her brother George Miles; her sons David Joseph Hurlbut, Michael Neal Hurlbut, and Daniel Bryan Hurlbut and their wives Ruth Rayne Rinehart, Cynthia Bower Hurlbut, and Rebecca Dymond Hurlbut; grandchildren Lindsey Hurlbut Bopp and her husband Brian Bopp, Zachary David Hurlbut, Devin Neel Hurlbut, Emily Ruth Hurlbut, Brandon Jackson Hurlbut, and Amelia Rose Hurlbut; and step-granddaughter Lora Rayne Rinehart.
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