Leona M. Bachman

Leona May Mundt was born at home in Longmont, Colorado on April 9, 1937 to Berniece and Ted Mundt. She had an older brother Duane who unfortunately took seriously ill in August 1937 apparently from food poisoning and passed away at the age of 3. Leona was also very sick at the same time with the same symptoms but eventually pulled through. In 1943 sister Jeanette arrived to make things a little more interesting. Mom has often thought of her older brother and we believe they are now united in a better place with their parents and sister Jeanette, who passed away earlier this year.

Leona grew up through the 1940's and 1950's in agriculture centered Longmont with classic school activities and family gatherings and regular travel to visit her maternal family in southern California. In late 1954 she was a senior at Longmont High School and caught the eye of Larry Bachman at the local roller skating rink. Early in 1955 they were engaged, and then married on August 28, Larry's 24^th birthday! The new couple lived in a few places in the north Colorado area before settling back into Longmont. Leona took classes in business machines and worked various appropriate jobs and then at the local bank for several years until about 1965.

The family started in 1957 with son Bryan Wayne. In 1959 they moved into a new brick ranch at the north edge of town and continued to build their family with Jackie Sue in 1960, Christian Edward in 1965, and finally Shawn Lawrence in 1967. For many years Leona kept very busy leading cub scouts and girl scouts and vacation bible school as the children went through those organizations. Leona also tended the yard and garden and was once recognized by the city of Longmont for the appearance of the family yard. The family purchased a truck and camper in 1969 and camped each summer with Leona's parents in many front range campgrounds.

In 1973 husband Larry was laid off from his job in Boulder, Colorado and the family moved into Columbine Hills in south Littleton, Colorado and joined Centennial Lutheran Church. Leona did a lot of home maintenance and yard care for a couple of years, but wanted something else to do as the kids were older and more self reliant. She tried being a cafeteria cook at Columbine High School, delivering flyers door to door, and then started doing some daycare in the home. The daycare in the home turned into a long term avocation, which saw her pursue and earn an Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education (1982) so she could purchase a nearby house and turn it into a licensed day care center that she ran for many years. After selling her day care she leveraged her degree to be the director of a facility owned by someone else, and later ""retiring"" after spending over 40 years in the daycare business. During all these years, she was a faithful CLC member, getting involved in all aspects of the church organization, including congregation president, and assisting in starting the daycare that CLC did for many years for the community.

As Leona wound down the daycare kind of activities, she became husband Larry's unwavering medical advocate as he developed Parkinson's and melanoma and broke his arm and then dementia issues. For several years she spent every day at his bedside in many facilities to make sure he got the care he needed from nurses and doctors and especially that he got the correct pills at just the right time. Leona was very proud to have reached 50 years married to Larry in August 2005 and they looked good and healthy at the time, but Leona had a melanoma cancer that she kind of hid until the 50^th was over. Surgery was successful and she returned to normal activity, which was suddenly becoming taking care of her husband as his health was now declining. Despite all of their issues, Leona and Larry reached the rare milestone of 60 years married in August 2015 though shortly thereafter Larry was confined to nursing facilities until he passed in early June 2016. Larry and Leona had put ""50+ Years Married"" on their cemetery stone many years ago, but it is a certainty that Larry lived long enough to hit 60 years due to Leona's care and advocacy for him.

Just as husband Larry was in his final days in May 2016, Leona literally left his bedside and drove herself (for the last time) to the ER and was immediately diagnosed with colon cancer and surgery was done a couple days later. Complications made her life very uncomfortable and she was quarantined and Larry's funeral was delayed a few days until she could get away from a care facility safely for a few hours in mid June. Later complications such as a liver cancer kept her in doctor offices and hospitals and rehab and nursing facilities since that time.

Leona had enough of her own health issues and through those and sadness from family events she always found solace and support by her faith and friends in the church. Son Christian died in 1992 from cancer complications late on Easter eve and Leona was in church for Easter services the next morning because ""that is where my support and strength come from"". But she and Larry never seemed to quite return to their old selves. In 2012, the youngest son Shawn passed away and Leona again felt her faith and CLC friends support was how she kept going and supporting husband Larry.

Leona spent the last two years in various facilities, generally giving the caregivers heck and advocating for others in the area not as aware as she was. Her last month was more comfortable for her than the last two years had been and she passed away on the evening of December 28, 2018.

Funeral Service: January 4, 2019 10:00 am

Centennial Lutheran Church
3595 W Belleview Ave
Englewood, CO 80110