Jane Colsman

Jane Colsman Obituary

Jane Colsman passed away early in the morning on August 1^st, 2023 at Elk Run Assisted Living in Evergreen, Colorado.

Jane was born over 100 years ago on April 8^th, 1923 in Topeka Kansas.  She was the first of 7 children.  She was told that her Grandmother’s 1^st cousin was William Frederick Cody, more commonly known as Buffalo Bill, but this has not been verified.

During World War II, she worked for the war effort in the munitions industry, painting antiaircraft shells.

In the late 1940s, she moved to San Francisco, where she met an engineer for the National Park Service named Allen Heubner.  She was really interested in him, but at one point, he seemed to disappear.  It turned out, he had a bad case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and was hospitalized with it for some time.  He later reappeared in Jane’s life and they were married in 1956.  They spent several summers in Yellowstone National Park, where Al managed construction projects for the National Park Service. In 1959, they had their only child, William F Heubner (Note the Buffalo Bill reference).  Jane and Bill went on several business trips with Al during the Summer as they drove to National Parks throughout the west with their tent trailer, while Al checked on construction projects in the National Parks.  They lived in Mill Valley California until the winter of 1971-1972, when Al’s office was consolidated with an office in Philadelphia and a new office, the Denver Service Center of the National Park Service was established.  They moved to Evergreen Colorado, where Jane lived until 2023.  Al passed away in 1978.

Jane met Richard Colsman at a group for widows and widowers and they married in 1984.  Richard was originally from Switzerland, though he was born in Italy, when his parents were on vacation there.  Jane and Richard loved traveling in the West in a travel trailer, later replaced by a motor home.  They often would travel with guests from Europe, who were fascinated by the Wild West.  Richard passed away in 2006.

Jane never remarried, saying “I can’t seem to keep a husband alive!

Jane spent the last 3 years of her life at Elk Run Assisted Living, where she was lovingly cared for by the staff. 

Jane was known for her sense of humor; always looking for a punch line in a conversation.

From when she was a child, Jane loved fishing.  She regularly fished the pants off any one she went fishing with.  She once broke off a relationship with a guy after he accidentally dropped her prized gaff hook into the ocean.  One of her crowning achievements was catching a 36-pound 2 oz king salmon on a charter boat out of Sausalito in the Bay Area.  This was a particularly large salmon for the Bay Area and she won an award from Schenley Whiskey Company.  One fishing trick she used for catching salmon was to paint a stripe on her fishing lure with her lipstick.

Jane was a talented cook, often cooking for friends at dinner parties.  She got very interested in wine making and had as much as almost 100 gallons of wine on hand at one time.  One of her specialties was chokecherry wine.  The chokecherries gave it this strange, bitter aftertaste that you didn’t mind at all after a glass or two!

Jane was a skilled seamstress.  She made many of the clothes she wore as well as clothes for her family. 

Jane loved living in Evergreen and had no desire to live anywhere else.  She would be pleased to know that she is buried here, never having to leave her beloved community again.