Beverly Ann (Jones, Haley) Hadden, 94, died of natural causes on March 28, 2024, with family and loved ones present throughout the day. Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister-in-law, aunt, friend, student, teacher, author, poet, philanthropist, parishioner, neighbor, listener, speaker… Bev steadfastly committed herself to all things good and worthy for 94 years. Her death did not come as a surprise. She was at peace with the inevitable. She was ready.

Born on July 24, 1929, in Milliken, CO to Vinita and Frank Jones, Bev grew up in Great Western Sugar Company towns, Johnstown, Windsor, and Fort Morgan due to her father’s career with GW. Home base was Denver where both sets of grandparents lived. During her second year at University of Colorado, Boulder, she met and later married her roommate’s brother, a young WWII veteran named Richard “Dick” Haley. They lived eight years in Sturgis, SD (the years their four children were born) and two in Billings, MT before returning to Colorado where Dick taught and later was a principal at schools in Fort Morgan. Bev earned her BS in education and English from what is now Black Hills State University and later her MA in English from what is now the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She took postgraduate studies at Denver University, University of Wyoming, and Bread Loaf School of English.

Bev was an English teacher at Fort Morgan High School for 15 years- was named the 1979 Colorado Teacher of the Year- and then was with Morgan Community College for five years. She and Dick retired and moved to Fort Collins the summer of 1993. Dick died in 2002, and Bev continued to be the organizer and core of the family.

In 2005, Bev and Joseph “Joe” Hadden, finding love their later years, married and had four good years together in Fort Collins before Joe’s death in 2009.

Family was always the centerpiece for Dick and Bev, as it was for Joe and Bev. In her final years, she became especially productive as a writer and poet, publishing a young adult novel, “War Bonds”, that won the 2015 Colorado Author’s League award for Best Young Adult Fiction. Her interest in poetry blossomed, and she published three volumes of poetry, the last one, “Remembering 2020-2022”, was completed during her recovery from a hip fracture in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Also of great importance were her writing and poetry friends and her many good friends at Plymouth United Congregational Church in Fort Collins.

Bev is survived by her four children: Mike, Pat, Tim (Glenda) Haley, and Ann (Ben) Hamilton, four adult stepchildren by marriage with Joe: Tom Hadden, John Hadden, Holly Erickson, and Judy Edington, grandchildren: Laura (Dave) Holmstrom, Erin Duckworth, Travis (Jess) Haley, Ellen Haley, Levon Haley, Casey (Jen) Hamilton and great-grandchildren: Hannah Holmstrom, Colin, Alex, Benjamin, and Archer Duckworth, Allie and Haley Hamilton. Bev is also survived by her sister Jeanne Clark, and Dick’s sister, Joan Soelzer (college roommate!). There are additional beloved nephews and nieces from both sides of the family tree.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Jerre Jones, and grandsons Dustin Hamilton and Lucas Haley.

A memorial service for Bev will be held at a future date to be announced.

For those wishing to contribute to a memorial in Bev’s honor, kindly send donations to: Poudre Libraries, 301 E. Olive St., Fort Collins, CO 80524. (Payable to Poudre Libraries, notable to Beverly Hadden Memorial). Or donate online at: bit.ly/Donate2PoudreLibraries