Jean Ann DeHaven of Littleton, Colorado, passed away peacefully on April 12, 2023, at the age of 81. She was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1942 to Jack and Anagrace DeHaven, who preceded her in death in 1970 and 1987, respectively. She had one brother, Paul, a much-honored police detective who also preceded her in death in 1999. The love of Jean's life, Jerry Raymond, her husband, preceded her in death in 2019. Jean is survived by her two nephews Michael and Jack DeHaven and their families, along with many loving family members and friends who miss her.

Jean graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1960, Culver-Stockton College in 1964, and the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley) with a master's degree in counseling in 1970. She worked for a few years as a counselor. She met her beloved friend Jan in 1976, and they lived together for 22 years. In 1982, after selling books for Time-Life Books, Jean took a job with the Rocky Mountain News in the classified ads department that would last her 26 years. She became a manager and union steward. She survived the merger between the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post and retired in 2008. Jerry, whom she had met in graduate school in 1969, finally stopped traveling the world and married Jean in 2003, and then they promptly went on several cruises around the world. By Jerry's passing in 2019, they had been best friends for 50 years.

Jean was an avid and talented quiltmaker and embroiderer and was deeply loved by her "stitch friends" (not to mention her book group friends and South Suburban Church friends). She had a brilliant smile that lit up a room, and she never met a stranger. She knew how to build community, a skill that is rare in today's "social media" world. When she moved into Libby Bortz assisted living in 2022 because of dementia, and her salivary gland cancer returned and she was under hospice care, she still adored going to the Buck Rec Center, to Starbucks, to church on Sundays, and out to lunch with her dear friends, who took phenomenal care of her. Her 81st birthday party, two weeks before she died, was pure joy to her, attended by 20 people from her former apartment complex. She was a bright light to so many of us in this sometimes dark world, and she will be deeply missed.

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