Chrisellen Loree Koenig Hobbs left this world on January 20, 2023.  She was 87 but her passing was still a shock to us all.  Chrisellen was born in a hospital in Grover, Colorado in the heart of the Dust Bowl.  She was the second of eight children and the oldest daughter to Chris and Ernestine Koenig.  She was fiercely proud of her dryland roots, tracing her heritage to the original homesteaders in northeast Colorado.  She loved to regale us with tales from her years on the family place just south of the Wyoming border.  Many of our most vivid childhood memories were formed on our frequent trips back to the farm, although none could match the tales told by Chrisellen and her siblings, some even verified as true by local news accounts.

Chrisellen married Bobby Ray (Pete) Hobbs in 1954 at Prairie Center Church, beginning their lifelong love that lasted until 2007 when Pete passed away.  During their marriage, they lived in San Diego and San Francisco, California, then to Bremerton, Washington and ultimately back to Colorado to Fort Morgan.  Chris and Pete raised four children in the house she lived in to her last days.

When we were young, she went to work at Duckwall's, a small five and dime on Main Street.  Soon Duckwall's became Alco and she worked there until she retired in 2006.  To this day we all meet people with fond remembrances of working there with her.  After she retired, she enjoyed her time volunteering at the Fort Morgan Senior Center where she made many new friends.

She loved traveling, often to spend time with her extended family; keeping up with so many cousins, great-aunts, and shirt-tail relatives that it sometimes required a chart to explain the connection.    She was an avid reader, with a keen understanding of world affairs.  She was fascinated by genealogy and local history.  If you are originally from Grover, Briggsdale, or Hereford, she could tell you something about your family.  Chrisellen had an almost mystical connection with her plants.  There is no plant that she could not grow.  The strange and exotic were her favorite; much of her collection appears to have come straight from Dr. Seuss.

Chrisellen is preceded in death by her husband Pete Hobbs, her beloved granddaughter Ruby Catherine Hobbs, and her brothers, David and Alvin Koenig.  She is survived by her four children and their spouses: Rae Ellen Windsheimer (Allan), Martin Hobbs (Nora Bianchi), Charles Hobbs (Janet), and Sue Boyett (Loren).  She was particularly proud of her grandchildren; Jackie Page (Jason), Jennifer Forbes (Nathan), Jamie Deines, Jay Hobbs (Catherine Coogan), Joe Hobbs (Ali) and Anna and Iris Hobbs.  Her great-grandchildren kept her young to the very end; Hayden and Keith Page, Eric and Addie Forbes, Sawyer and Ryker Deines, Frances Hobbs, and Daisy Hobbs.  She has too many nieces, nephews, cousins, second cousins, and great-nieces and nephews to count, but she remembered them all and we hope you remember her as well.

She was our Matriarch.  She loved us all without reservation or judgment.  She was tough and sentimental with no contradiction between the two.  Just by being herself she showed us how to live.  We will miss her and celebrate her, with no contradiction.

A service celebrating her life will be Friday, January 27 at 10:00 am at the Calvary Baptist Church.  A lunch will follow at The Block.  All are invited.  Donations may be made in Chrisellen's name to the Morgan County United Way.