Eula Rae passed peacefully on October 11, 2026, surrounded by family. She was 91. She was born Eula Rae Wares on January 19, 1935, on a ranch outside of Norwood, Colorado on the north side of the Lone Cone. Her father, Kenneth, was a ranch hand on her aunt and uncle’s ranch and her mother Kathleen was a schoolteacher. Her family moved to Liberal, Kansas, where Eula graduated high school. She attended Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana where she met the love of her life. Glenn and Eula were married in 1957 at Glenn’s parents’ house with his father Albert officiating.

They settled in Liberal, Kansas and began their family with son Chris born in 1959 and daughter Erin in 1960 before moving to Emporia, Kansas where their youngest son Matthew was born in 1967. Their second child Erin suffered a brain embolism at 2 months of age and subsequent surgeries resulted in significant brain damage, forever changing the trajectory of their lives. Glenn and Eula were blessed to have an incredible staff at the KU medical center providing Erin with cutting edge care, support and early schooling. They were blessed with a rich, strong support system from the medical center, church family and community.

Glenn and Eula were active supporters of the Civil Rights movement in college and their early marriage. They truly loved people. They opened their home to those that needed a place to stay and also rented out rooms and basement space to college students. There was always a mix of people of different races, religions and creeds moving through their house and life. Eula opened herself to these relationships. Providing others with safe space gave her safe space. No matter how brief or how long they knew the people who came through the house, she cherished what they offered her in return.

They moved to Grand Junction in 1973 and Eula sought not only to build a community around them, but to provide community support to others – particularly for parents of children with disabilities. Over the next 25 or so years she worked hard to secure resources and networking for other parents. She championed a respite care program for parents to be able to find care for their child while they took time away. She helped start the Effective Parents Project to provide resources for respite care and other resources. She co-founded the Roundhouse Conference for Children with Disabilities which brought parents, educators and physicians together as equals to share knowledge and learn from each other. It went 25 consecutive years and brought physicians from around the world, educators and legislators from across the country to the western slope region. For many parents this was a safe place to talk with others who knew what they were going through and they could support each other. Eula was immensely proud and awed by the success of the conference, but more than that, she loved all the people she was able to meet and spend time with. It filled her up.

She was an avid writer her whole life and joined a writers group, Women Writing for a Change for several years. She started pastel painting after retiring. She loved her own respite time up in the mountains and she loved the many cats that meandered in an out of our family’s home over the years.