Nona Thayer

Nona Thayer, at age 86, passed away in her Fort Collins home of fifty three years on December 6th. She was born in 1932 in Vancouver, Washington, as the second child of Walt and LaVeta Buker. Her brother, Robert, was two years older. He and his wife, Rosemary, continue to live at the Buker farm. Nona attended schools in Vancouver, becoming high school sweethearts with Sandy Thayer. Then, they both attended and graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Nona graduated in 1954 with a degree in Home Economics with high honors. She immediately began working for Stanford Research Institute. She left that position at nine months pregnant, soon giving birth to twins: Ann and Eric in 1955. Three years later, Jill was born at Edwards Air Force Base. Troy was born in 1962, also in Palo Alto. With their family complete, Sandy earned a PhD and sought employment. In 1966, he accepted a position as a professor at Colorado State University in the Mechanical Engineering Department. While Sandy pursued his career, Nona focused on the home front, raising their children and volunteering in the community. She was active in the League of Women Voters. She enrolled at CSU earning a Master’s Degree in Economics in her late thirties. Her passion in land use planning in Fort Collins led her to campaign for and become a Larimer County Commissioner from 1976 to 1984. She successfully championed green space, including adding many walking and biking paths in many new parks. She balanced her career with her most important roles as a wife and mother. She deeply valued education. She drove her kids to the library every other week so that they had a stack of books to read about whatever interested them. She discouraged television such that when lightening destroyed the family’s one TV, it was not replaced for years. Instead, she fostered great study skills and homework completion so there was daily time for clubs like 4-H and Scouts. She also encouraged music lessons and practice, pets and their care, and lots of sports related activities, either on teams or individually. Nona and Sandy purchased a lot in Steamboat Springs in the late 1960’s, where they built a large A –frame from a kit, suitable for family plus friends. “The Cabin” was the scene of dozens of Thanksgivings, Christmases, and New Year Eve celebrations, as well as about ten weekends per skiing season. All Thayer’s are accomplished downhill and cross-country skiers. Nona skied up to 2007, even after a hip replacement, because she enjoyed it so much. The SS cabin was also the summer and fall base for hiking. She loved hiking so much her vehicle long displayed a sticker of “Great Minds Think A Hike”. Every August, the family enjoyed week-long horseback rides in the nearby mountain wilderness area. With her children in college and beyond, Nona pursued vegetable gardening with an ever bigger plot. With any sunny day, she tended her garden and grew an impressive bounty of produce. Nona was a skilled, innovative cook, wanting to eat what she grew in assorted recipes emphasizing vegetables. She was a healthy eater long before it was trendy. Nona ate frozen packets of veggies and raspberries and fresh apple juice from her apple tree all year long. She also tended flowers like iris, daisies, columbines and roses placed in locations she could enjoy. Inside, Nona enjoyed the attached greenhouse that Sandy built for her. She started plants and had many large, healthy ones all year long. As a lifelong seamstress, Nona was gifted in converting fabric into numerous pairs of pajamas and beautiful outfits. She decorated her home with homemade curtains and tablecloths. Nona picked up long distance bike riding in her late 40’s, and enjoyed biking frequently until her mid-70’s. Notable was the immense distances she would petal. It was not unusual for her to go two hundred plus miles in a long weekend. She accomplished several “Ride the Rockies”. Perhaps the most amazing feat was when Sandy and she rode over a thousand miles to their fortieth high school reunion in Vancouver, Washington as fifty-eight year olds. Many of their classmates were astonished. Besides bike trips, Nona and Sandy enjoyed a hundred plus other travel trips, going to all fifty states and to many countries in Europe and Asia as well as New Zealand. They experienced international short-term living in Sweden, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, and China. They integrated into various cultures with style and ease, becoming conversant in the language and navigating regular life on their own. Nona was often complimented for her ability to orderly manage extended trips with her children even as youngsters and teenagers. As an empty nester, Nona chose to invest five years of her talents and time in assisting her daughter Jill and son-in-law Vaughan with the management of their horse breeding business in Windsor, Colorado. Over the years, Nona thoroughly enjoyed her local friends through many like-minded interests and activities. One was her ladies hiking group. Over the decades, they hiked in Rocky Mountain Park, the Front Range foothills, and in Fort Collins, always enjoying lots of talking over coffees and meals. A second group is her book club which met monthly for many years to discuss fiction and non-fiction works by international authors. A third group is called “The Salon”, which was a gathering of politically active women who met at various homes on a monthly basis. They discussed current events and issues and how they could influence candidates, campaigns, and issues. Some of these friends pursued global travel together, before and after Sandy’s death in January of 2005. Throughout Nona’s life, even in the final days, she spoke of her great friends. Another “friend” who must be noted is her dog. After Sandy’s death almost thirteen years ago, Nona selected a Springer Spaniel puppy. She named him Bix and trained him to have excellent manners. They enjoyed numerous walks during the days and evenings at each other’s side as Nona read a large daily newspaper or watched educational programming. Nona and Bix have been amazingly bonded companions, always close to one another in life and in her dying process from Multiple Myeloma, a type of cancer of the blood. Nona’s legacy will continue through the influence she had in the lives of her children and grand-children. Her children are Ann (Leon) Libby of Florida and Maine, Eric (Kathy) and grandson Wiley of Steamboat Springs, Jill (Vaughan) Cook of Windsor and grand-daughters Bailey and Jamie, and Troy (Penny) of Hailey, Idaho and grandchildren Hayden, Leah and Emily. To Nona’s great happiness, all her children earned college degrees, and all her grandchildren have either earned degrees, or are currently attending college. She was also very happy to have her extended family share her love for skiing, biking, traveling, environmentalism, animals, and civic duty. Nona’s Celebration of Life Service will be on Saturday, December 15th at 2:30 PM at Bohlender Chapel located at 121 West Olive Street in Fort Collins, just west of College Avenue. Nona’s beloved poinsettias will decorate the room. In lieu of formal flowers, you are welcome to bring a poinsettia and take it home with you after the event or make a charitable donation in Nona Thayer’s name to ChildSafe, 2001 South Shields Street, Building K, Fort Collins, CO 80526. The family invites all attendees to a reception featuring coffee and light sweets at Bohlender’s meeting room. Online condolences will be welcomed.

Tributes

Nona Thayer

February 2, 1932 - December 6, 2018