Mary Kathleen Echter

Mary was born on June 19, 1924 in Carrizozo, New Mexico to Chester Lloyd and Myrtle Elizabeth Lumpkins (Shaw). Mary spent her childhood primarily in Marlow, Oklahoma and Big Spring, Texas. She completed high school in Big Spring and secretarial school in Albuquerque. While working on an Air Force base in Big Spring, she met her future husband, Robert “Bob” Walter Echter. Mary and Bob married on October 19, 1945 in Tampa, Florida. They eventually moved to Colorado Springs and then to Fort Collins where Bob studied horticulture at Colorado State University. Bob and his brother Jim started Echter’s Greenhouse in 1959 in Arvada. Bob eventually took over the business where he raised award winning carnations for many years before it was transformed into the current garden center while Mary raised their six children.

After they sold the business to their sons Steve and Dave in 1989, they traveled the world, enjoyed time at their mountain cabin near Mount Princeton, and spent time with their family. Mary enjoyed water color painting, cake decorating, crafts, music, cooking, shopping, theater, and had an endless passion for learning. She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother.

Mary passed peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her children and grandchildren in the early morning on July 15, 2014.

Mary is survived by her husband of 68 years, Robert; their six children, Steven, Randall (Rolene), Susan Bjugstad (Dan), Dana (Lorraine), David (Anne), and Tamara (Soon Beng); eleven grandchildren, Kate, Robin, Charles, Anna, Christopher, Natalie, Daniel, Nicholas, Autumn, Jeffrey and Julie; and her five great-grandchildren, Ayanna, Kaitlin, Sara, Emma, and Bradley. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Lorraine Virginia Mattocks (Lumpkins).

A memorial service for Mary will be held on Saturday July 19, 2014 at 10:00 am at Olinger Crown Hill Pavilion, 29th & Wadsworth.

Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of your choice in Mary's loving memory.