Elizabeth A. Mekkelsen

Elizabeth Mekkelsen peacefully passed on May 23

rd

, 2018, sitting in a chair looking out at the evening sky, watching and enjoying the world she loved. A fitting exit after 104 years on this earth.

Elizabeth was born on February 21, 1914 in Le Center, Minnesota, the second of 6 children. She graduated from high school in 1930 and attended one year of teachers’ college. Elizabeth began teaching in one room rural schools in Minnesota, attending Mankato Teachers’ College during the summers. She obtained her Associates Degree in 1944 and her BA in 1951, providing her with the credentials to teach in larger elementary schools. She taught in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado. Elizabeth married Richard (Dick) A. Mekkelsen on February 20, 1954. Elizabeth, Dick and their daughter Bridget moved to Boulder, CO in 1960 where Elizabeth taught for the Boulder County School District until 1981.

Elizabeth lived by the mantra, “Faith, Family, Friends and Nature”. She was a true renaissance woman, believing everyone had value and all people deserved respect. Elizabeth also believed that people needed friends of every generation to maintain perspective. It was her conviction that all of us were responsible for making and leaving this world a better place. She voted for the first time for FDR in 1936 and participated in every election thereafter.

Elizabeth was active in the Boulder Bird Club, the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the Norseman of Colorado, Boulder Community Hospital Volunteers, and the Catholic Church. She continued taking classes at the University of Colorado until she was 100 years old, and at that time she held the record for the most audited classes at CU.

Elizabeth was a remarkable woman who taught many how to live with grace and conviction. She is preceded in death by her husband Dick (Richard), her parents, Agnes and Bernard Hoey, sisters Magdalen Vail, Margaret Hoey, Leone Paul, Sister Inez SSND, and brother Francis Hoey. She is survived by her daughter Bridget Tuma (Wayne); grandchildren Jessica Raffle (Lee), Arwen Sherman (Jeremy) and Matthew Tuma (Alexis); great-grandchildren Jonathan Raffle, Michael Raffle, Logan Sherman, Madeline Sherman; and multiple nieces and nephews.

Elizabeth requests that in lieu of flowers that you take time to go outside and enjoy and protect the world God gave us.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be said on Tuesday, June 26 at 10:30 AM at St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church, 3300 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO 80305.