Christine T. Jorgensen

Chris Jorgensen lived eighty-three years engaged in service and creative endeavors. She was an enthusiastic traveler, a dedicated bridge player, a writer, a painter, a symphony goer, a golfer, a reader, and a lover of color. Born in Champagne, Illinois to David and Ruth Turnbull, she grew up in Monmouth, Illinois where she completed high school. In the social expansion of the 1960s, Christine left her hometown for Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota, majoring in English. She received her Bachelor of the Arts in English from Roosevelt University in Chicago. She married her first husband Craig Murdock, and with their son Gaunt, moved to London where her daughter Vanessa was born. Returning to the United States they settled in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood. She earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Denver where she met her husband Jim Jorgensen, who she loved for half a century.

Her belief in the principle of fairness, and her commitment to public service led her to a long career in social work. She was a case worker in the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, where she worked with families in Altgeld Gardens, notable as the birthplace of the Environmental Justice movement. She worked in adult social services and child protection at Denver Social Services, followed by a nearly 20-year career at Colorado Children’s Hospital. In the decade following her retirement from Children’s Hospital, she spent several semesters with her husband Jim teaching social work and early childhood development at the People’s Youth College for Politics in Beijing. 

As a second career, she joined Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America, and over the next 15 years published seven mystery novels. She took up oil painting, taking classes at the Art Students League of Denver. Her interest in botany is reflected in her work, which has shown in the Art Students League Summer Art Market and is currently showing in the Colorado Symphony Guild Shop in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. 

Chris was a creative and adventurous friend. She had a tremendous empathy for people who are struggling, and a deep understanding of children, as reflected both in her work with children and families, and in her writing. She was a natural diplomat. She was independent and kind. She assumed others, children and adults alike, to be reasonable, intelligent and competent. She possessed a can-do attitude and practical talent, learning home and auto repair as the need arose. She applied herself with intensity to whatever project was at hand.

Chris is survived by her loving husband of 48 years, James Jorgensen, her children Gaunt (Emma) Murdock and Vanessa Murdock (Michael Courage), her stepchildren John Jorgensen (Pam Williams) and Catherine Jorgensen, her grandchildren Paulot Gaudin, Naya Murdock, Eamon Murdock, Hannah Jorgensen, Dana Jorgensen, AJ Courage and Chloe Courage, and her siblings Nancy (John) Walters and John (Denise) Turnbull. 

Please join us in a celebration of Christine’s life on Friday, November 22, 2024, at 2 pm at Horan & McConaty, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd.