Evelyn Marie (Kinyon) Kretzmann, 95 of Brush, passed away at her home on February 6, 2020.  She was born in LaDue, Missouri near Clinton on November 6, 1924 to Ora A. and Florence M. (Parks) Kinyon.  Soon after her birth, they moved to Warrensburg, MO where they owned a grocery store.  Around 1936, they bought a small farm near Elm Springs, MO, where she was baptized in a scenic creek.  When WWII began, the farm was sold, and having completed high school, Evelyn, along with her father, worked at the Lake City Ordinance Plant near Kansas City.  Evelyn married her high school fiancé in 1943, and later moved to his various military locations within the United States.  A daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1949.  A divorce followed in 1951.  Evelyn worked for a law firm in Kansas City, MO and studied stenograph for secretarial use.  Around 1960, she and her daughter moved to Boulder, CO and later to Nederland, while working at a title insurance company and then the Clerk and Recorder's office in Boulder.  In 1968, she married Arnold Kretzmann.  Around 1971, they moved to Paonia, CO, but when the snow drifts got too deep, they moved to Sun City, AZ.  Later they lived in Congress Junction, Safford, and the Prescott vicinity for 20 years, finally returning to Colorado in 1991 (first Salida, then Grand Junction.)  As lawn care became a trial, they moved to a retirement village in Ellsworth, KS before again returning to Colorado to the Colorado Lutheran Home in Arvada, which Arnold's father had been instrumental in founding.  Too much city caused them to search out Otis.  They then moved to Brush.  As her husband's health deteriorated and he passed, Evelyn lived with her daughter and son in law for a few years, also in Brush, then in Eben Ezer assisted living for a few years, where she made new friends who enriched her life.  For the past year she had resided again with her daughter and son in law.

Evelyn loved to read all day, especially the Bible.  She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Morgan, sometimes attended All Saints Lutheran Church in Brush, and enjoyed Bible study at Eben Ezer.   God was her focus in life, and she always looked forward to going to heaven.  After a brief illness she made her longed-for journey home.

She had no siblings and is survived by one daughter, Rebecca Hankins, son in law Ken Hankins, of Brush, one granddaughter, Robin Maiani, and two great granddaughters, Olivia and Emerson Maiani, of Columbus, Indiana.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, February 17, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. at All Saints Lutheran Church in Brush.