Elicia M. Reed

Elicia M. Reed, 78, passed away Wednesday, November 27, 2024, at Health One Hospital in Thornton, CO.

Elicia “Lisa” was born in Rapid City, SD, in 1946, as the first of four children. The small trailer house her family lived in, surrounded by a collection of new families with resilience and neighborly togetherness, was just enough to fit her parents and her siblings. She shared her adolescence with her many cousins, several of whom were cherished partners of mischief.

Elicia received her degree in Child Psychology and minor in Home Economics in 1970, at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. Elicia found Roy Reed to be her lifetime love and they were married in 1971 in Rapid City, SD. Their daughter Heather was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1973, where they were property managers, amongst other activities.

Elicia was a do-it-yourselfer through and through. She was a baker and a maker, a planner and a doer, a professional seamstress, lifelong learner, and an artist. After completing one idea, she could easily see how to update it next time and would start envisioning three new ideas. Many of her ideas were from books. She loved books and still had the one from the 1970’s about building your mobile house from scratch on the back of your pickup truck, a family favorite.

Elicia’s career was to help others plan and realize their construction and decorating dreams, consulting with customers at multiple home improvement galleries. Her passion was crafting and the love of her grandchildren.

When their daughter Heather moved to Colorado for college in 1990, Elicia and Roy joined the migration and spent fun times for the next 33 years with family and their grandchildren, Ashley and Ethan in Thornton, CO.

Elicia was an adored daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. She was very generous, with her time, her ideas, and her special gifts she would gather and make for her loved ones. She could also easily find what was funny about how something didn’t go quite as planned.

Elicia is preceded in death by her parents Warren and Betty Downen, and brother Calvin Downen. Elicia is survived by her husband Roy Reed, daughter and her family Heather and Pete Withnell - grand-daughter Ashley Withnell and grandson Ethan Withnell; sister and her family Inez and Richard Rankin and their son’s families Joshua Rankin (Kayden and Tori Rankin) and Joe Rankin; brother and his family Stephen and Dian Downen and their son Alan Downen.

There will be a memorial open house in spring/summer 2025 in Colorado to celebrate Elicia’s life.