Eunice Ione Meuret

Eunice (Donner) Meuret, September 9, 1924 - April 29, 2020, longtime resident of Palisade and Grand Junction, passed away peacefully at the Villa Manor Care Center in Lakewood, Colorado with family members by her side. Eunice was born at home near Burwell, Nebraska to Vern and Nanna (Johnson) Donner. She grew up on several ranches and attended rural country schools.

Eunice graduated Ericson High School, Ericson , Nebraska in 1942. After passing a state exam, she taught school for three years at neighboring rural schools. She then worked for the county agent's office and later for the soil conservation office, both in Burwell. She met returning WWII veteran Charles R. Meuret at a local rodeo. They were married on September 3, 1946, and honeymooned in Colorado.

Afterwards, their life became a journey. While Charles was out selling, Eunice settled down to being a housewife and mother. Starting in Burwell, they moved to Sargent, Grand Island, Norfolk, Cheyenne (WY), Sidney and back to Grand Island. In April 1958, in a Ford station wagon pulling a small trailer the family, which included six children, arrived in Palisade, CO to a four and a half acre peach orchard and a two bedroom house. Bedrooms would be added and the eventual arrival of two more children would complete the family.

Eunice cooked and cleaned and attended parent teacher conferences while Charles was out selling. She canned peaches, apricots, plums, and sour cherries from the orchard. The family worshiped at St. Anne's Catholic church in Palisade where Eunice belonged to the Alter and Rosary Society.

When the kids were grown and out of the house, Eunice and Charlie moved 10 miles west to Grand Junction. They now had time to travel. They spent two weeks a year in St. Petersburg, Florida for several decades, became snowbirds in Arizona for a few years, visited daughters in Boston and San Francisco. She enjoyed sewing; watching Colorado Rockies baseball and Denver Nugget basketball games; and rodeo, especially bull riding on television.

Her children remember her as a caring mother who worked hard to raise eight children, and she loved holiday gatherings, family reunions, and wedding anniversaries. She and Charles celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends at the Aspen Lodge Resort in the shadow of Longs Peak south of Estes Park.

Eunice is survived by sons Gale Meuret, Lakewood, and Glen Meuret, Calhan; daughters Nancy Meuret and Rita Meuret, Montrose; Rebecca Walker, Denver, Jane Meuret, Littleton, and Betty Brown, Freedom, CA; 21 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren; sister Erlyn Mattley, Downs, KS; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.

Eunice was preceded in death by her husband, her sister Lois Simon, her brother Carrol Donner and her youngest son Wayne.

She will be laid to rest alongside her husband of 64 years at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado in Grand Junction, Colorado.