Leslie Jean Lombard Pankey –
Jean Pankey was born to Leslie Walter Lombard and Barbara Roy Lombard in Cripple Creek, Colorado on July 4, 1933, where her father was working in the mines. At an early age they moved to Eaton, her mother’s hometown. At the age of 3, after attending a birthday party, she became ill and,
after the ordeal of finding a hospital who would take her, she was admitted to a Denver hospital and diagnosed with polio. She was in and out of hospitals for lengthy stays for much of her early childhood and the disease left her with one leg being 3 inches shorter than the other.
This obvious mark of an insidious disease slowed her down but didn’t stop her. She was working at a movie theater in Eaton when she met her future husband. They married immediately following her graduation from Eaton High School in June 1951 and moved to Greeley. During their marriage they lived in Greeley, Boulder, California (briefly), and back to Greeley in 1962 where they bought a 100 year old house on 3 acres on the north end of Greeley. Over the next 47 years they raised two daughters, and tended numerous dogs, cats, horses, cows, ducks, turkeys, all of whom were named “Pedro.”
In the 1960-70s she was actively involved at Greeley First Evangelical Free Church (now Christ Community) and the Greeley Christian Women’s Club leading Friendship Bible Studies. Later, she was an active member of the Greeley Wesleyan Church now known as Generations Church. In the early 1970s she began praying weekly with two women. Other women joined them through the years and they prayed together weekly for nearly 40 years. Jean joined a small group of women in founding the Greeley Women’s Ministry Center where she was active on the steering committee, and led Bible studies and journaling classes over the years. The WMC and the friendships she formed were her lifelines and she practically lived at the Center. But, she was a lifeline to others as well. She was known as a woman of prayer and often she would receive a call from someone she didn’t even know asking her to pray for them.
Also, in 1977, Jean started journaling, a practice that continued through 2014. She kept two journals simultaneously. One was her version of a diary. The other was a documentation of what God was teaching her or personalized paraphrases of scripture. There are 92 journals in total. Often Jean would write personalized paraphrased scripture as an encouragement for others going through trials. She would keep one copy in her journal and give the other to the person. Two entire journals documented her study on the names of God.
Jean loved dance, but could not dance herself due to the effects of polio. She loved watching anyone dance and remarked to her Journaling class at the WMC that one day she would dance with Jesus, a comment she made often. She also wrote about it in her journal entitled “My Year To Dance” where she focused on the how her relationship with God was akin to a dance.
Here’s an
excerpt from Mom’s Journal, February 2, 2005
“I just finished reading Ken Gire’s book The Divine Embrace. In it he pictures our relationship with You,
Jesus, as the dance - one that is a close and intimate. I am glad now that I
have never experienced a close romantic dance with anyone, even my husband. I
am saving my first dance for Jesus. Even now I experience it in my heart. Thank
You, JESUS.
“Jesus holds me close, looks into my eyes and reads my heart. He whispers how
He loves me. He makes the dance of life a joy. He takes the lead and enables me
to follow. Even in the difficult
demanding steps, He is there with His powerful arms around me. He doesn’t mind
when I step on his toes and even when I stumble and fall, He is quick to pick
me up, brush me off and get me right back into the rhythm of His grace. There
is freedom in dancing with Him, there is excitement as He is so spontaneous. I
may not know the new steps or the direction, but I can trust him to guide me on
one step at a time. He calms my fears
and encourages me to relax and enjoy the music of the dance, but mostly He
wants me to treasure him for who He is. He is Lord of the Dance and He has
chosen me to be his partner, because He loves me!
Although Roy and Jean lived on their three acres on “C” Street for 47 years, she was not attached to the house, or to any material things. Two things that Jean should be remembered for are praying and giving. She learned to tithe from Roy early in her Christian life and was faithful to always give to God first - a lesson she passed on to both daughters. Even in death, she prescribed that 10% of her estate be given as a final tithe.
Although the effects of Post Polio Syndrome left her with a weak body and genetics robbed her of her memory she remained a sweet spirit, a gift to those who cared for her. She is dancing with Jesus and singing the love song that He wrote just for her.
She died on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at the age of 88. Jean was preceded in death by her husband and her younger sister. She is survived by her two daughters, son-in-law, two grand children and a grandson-in-law.
Much of this eulogy are facts about Mom, however we'd like to take a quick minute to share memories of her personality. As a family we’ve collected a few rememberences to share about who she was.
- She wasn’t a good cook, and never claimed to be. Rather, she said, she assembled food!
- Having a 4th of July birthday, she loved marching bands, parades, and fireworks. She thought of them all public celebrations for her birthday.
- She loved crafting and belonged to the “Craft of the Month” club for years. She also hooked rugs, did needlepoint, and knitted afghans, dresses, and sweaters.
- She loved birds and kept a pair of binoculars at home and in her car to get up close and personal with passing hawks, owls, blue jays, etc.
- She loved baseball and made it a point to take her grandkids to the very first Rockies season opening game. She would faithfully watch baseball games on TV and, simultaneously, listen to the radio because she didn’t like the TV commentary.
- She embraced technology and bought a computer when it became economically viable. She bought a greeting card program and made 100s of personalized cards for friends and family.
- She loved music – especially movie and theater musicals. Because she couldn’t dance, she took particular joy in movies with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. She knew, and sang along with, every line in movies like Camelot, Singin’ in the Rain, White Christmas, and more. She passed this on to her daughters. She listened to records and the radio continually, sang in the church choir, and whistled all…the…time.
· Finally, although she was a sweet, agreeable woman, she could be a woman of determination. Two examples:
o First, she loved to travel and wanted to visit her pen-pal of 40 years in England. She saved nickels and dimes and announced to Dad that she was going to England and he could come if he wanted to, but she was going. He went.
o Secondly, one month after Dad died she decided to move off the homestead and marched into Fox Run apartments and announced that she wanted a 1 bedroom apartment on the 2nd floor near the elevator on the east side. She made the move, never looked back, enjoying every minute.
Below is the video we created to help tell her story.
