Jean Lovell

Jean Lovell, born July 29, 1935, in Torrington, Wyoming, died peacefully in Boulder, Colorado, on July 19, 2026, after a short illness with colon cancer. She lived 90 years guided by the belief that a life is meant to make things better for others.

Jean was the eldest daughter of John and Areta (Gillett) Booth. Her childhood was spent on the move as her father followed construction jobs during World War II. The family lived wherever the work took them: motels, rented rooms, places above garages, cabins, and eventually a small travel trailer. She attended thirteen grammar schools, sometimes three or four in a single year. The learning environment was the one thing that stayed the same, and she loved it. She was an obedient student, a fast learner, and a child who found comfort in books. Reading opened the world to her long before she ever traveled. She read everything she could find, from Robert Louis Stevenson and Daniel Defoe to Nancy Drew mysteries and magazines like Children’s Playmate. Books showed her families who were kind and generous, and she carried those lessons with her.

In 1956 Jean married Ralph Lovell, and during their thirteen-year marriage she became the mother of three children: Linda, John, and Anne. In January 1963 she moved to Boulder, beginning her 63-year devotion to the community she loved. Boulder was where she created the warm, joyful, and welcoming home that anchored her family.

Jean was a thoughtful, intentional parent who taught her children decision-making from toddlerhood, starting with simple choices and growing into thoughtful problem-solving, encouraging them to consider possibilities and consequences while trusting them to learn from experience. She believed in honesty, refusing to shield them from hard truths, and modeled accountability by owning her mistakes. Deeply loving and supportive, she encouraged their independence and embraced their differences, often laughing that she ended up with “three opposites” whom she loved exactly as they were.

Her family was her heart, and she shaped the lives of her grandson Brad and great-grandson Leon with the same intentional care she gave her children. Brad visited every summer, experiencing her thoughtful parenting style firsthand, while Leon shared a special bond through weekly video calls where she read him poetry, wanting him to know and remember her. They brought her immense joy and connection in her final years.

Jean became a nurse after discovering that forestry was closed to women. St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Denver trained her in the practical, hands-on style of the time. It was essentially an apprenticeship. She and her classmates lived in dorms with curfews, worked long shifts, and learned by doing. Every skill had to be performed correctly

and checked off by an instructor. By the time she graduated, she had already been doing real nursing for years.

The work that defined her career was becoming one of the early nurse practitioners at Wardenburg Student Health Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. She listened closely, asked good questions, and paid attention. She joked that she spent her days mostly saving lives from colds and acne, yet she also diagnosed meningitis, leukemia, and the first cases of AIDS. She believed in doing the best job she could reasonably do, and she did.

Jean lived with intention. She marched at Rocky Flats, walked in Take Back the Night, served as an election judge, volunteered with the Red Cross Disaster Action Team, and helped neighbors build a shade structure in the park. She believed that people mattered more than things. She believed in asking for what you want, and that kindness and curiosity were essential.

She was a devoted member of the Peace Circle and the Goddess Circle, two spiritual communities that nurtured her spirit and gave her a sense of belonging and purpose. The Peace Circle was a sacred gathering focused on fostering peace, healing, and mutual support. It provided Jean a space for reflection and renewal, where she shared her experiences and listened with empathy and openness. This circle grounded her during challenging times, emphasizing balance among heart, mind, and action, and encouraging compassion, understanding, and collective responsibility as foundations for peace. The Goddess Circle embraced feminine wisdom, empowerment, and creativity, celebrating the cycles of life and nature. It was a supportive space for spirituality, sisterhood, and personal growth, where Jean deepened her connection to herself and others, finding joy, inspiration, and strength that enriched her daily life.

She loved nature in the way gardeners do: by noticing small wonders—a deep blue sky with drifting clouds, a maple dropping its leaves like a fifteen-minute gold snowstorm, baby robins fledging. She found joy in these moments and taught others to see them too. As a Master Gardener and a volunteer with ReSource Central, she became an expert in xeriscaping and water conservation. Beyond her hands-on work, Jean shared her passion and knowledge through a regular column she wrote as "Miss Jean" for ReSource Central, published in the Boulder Daily Camera, inspiring the community with practical advice and reflections on gardening and conservation.

Jean also loved to travel. Her desire to see the world began with the books she read throughout her life. When her children were grown, she embraced the freedom to visit places like Asia and Europe that she had once only imagined. She traveled alone and with

groups, and she liked both for different reasons. She loved learning about art, architecture, history, and culture. On one trip she carried a baseball to massage her back on long rides, and her fellow travelers borrowed it so often that she was presented with a handwritten certificate naming her “Our Lady of the Beisbol.” She treasured that moment, and every journey she took added to the richness of her life.

Her home was her anchor. After a childhood of constant moves, she spent nearly 60 years in the house she made her own. She built it slowly, room by room, garden by garden, until it reflected her values: simplicity, beauty, usefulness, and welcome. She did not want to move again. She had already created the life she wanted.

Jean lived many lives. She was a daughter, a wife, a mother, a nurse, a gardener, an environmentalist, a traveler, a writer, and always a learner. She believed in staying curious, in doing something you enjoy every day, and in giving back more than you take.

Jean is survived by her children: Linda and her husband Jack, John and his wife Vicky, and Anne and her husband Michael. She is also survived by her grandson Brad, his wife Stefanie, and her great-grandson Leon. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Joanie.

She left the world better than she found it. Not through grand gestures, but through steady, thoughtful, intentional acts of care.

She began life as a nomad. She ended life rooted, purposeful, and at home.

A Celebration of Jean’s Life will be held at 1:00 on September 19th at the Frasier Meadows Eldorado Room 350 Ponca PL Boulder, CO 80303.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a wilderness or environmental organization of the donor’s choice.

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