Myrna Lou Pettit

Myrna Lou Pettit (Schmidt), died in her sleep on April 5, 2024, at the age of 93. She was in long term memory care for Alzheimers disease in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Myrna was born to Dorothea and L.G. Schmidt in Pomeroy, Iowa on October 3, 1930. She has been interred in Crown Hill Cemetery in Lakewood, Colorado, next to her husband, Frank E. Pettit, who died December 15, 2001. She is survived by son John Pettit of Denver, and Mike Pettit of Dallas, Texas.

Myrna graduated high school in 1948 at Pomeroy HS, and then attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she received a bachelors degree in English in 1952. She taught English at schools in Iowa for several years. During this time, she gravitated to Colorado, where she spent her summers working in the mountains in places such as Grand Lake Lodge. She moved to Colorado sometime in the mid-50s where she continued to teach English and learned to ski. During her teaching career, she found herself less interested in teaching and followed up by enrolling in graduate school at the University of Denver in Library Science, where she received an MA in 1960. She was the first librarian for George Washington HS in Denver, when it opened in 1961. Her daughter-in-law Maryrose Kohan, wife of son John, currently teaches at GW. After only one year, Myrna left after becoming engaged to Frank Pettit, who she married on April 22, 1962. John and Mike were born in 1964 and 1966, respectively. The family made their home in Lakewood, Colorado, until a work-related move to Casper, Wyoming in 1974. The Pettits lived in Casper until John and Mike graduated high school.

Myrna was a life-long member of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, and established herself and the family in congregations at Bethlehem Lutheran in Lakewood and Mount Hope Lutheran in Casper. She was actively engaged with church groups in both locations. Myrna and Frank returned to Colorado in 1986 to live in Lakewood where they remained until Frank’s death. Myrna was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, and was showing more acute signs of the progression of the disease prior to her death. She took a fall five days earlier, which likely precipitated her death. The family would like to thank the staff at Spring Ridge Park memory care in Wheat Ridge for superlative care that she received since she moved there in 2020.

A celebration of life and memoir for Myrna (and Frank) will take place at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 2100 Wadsworth Boulevard in Lakewood on Saturday, May 11 at 3 pm with a reception to follow.