Ruth Maxine Espana

Ruth “Maxine” España, née Fowler, 83, of Fort Collins, Colorado, passed peacefully from this world on December 21, 2025, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born to Robert Lee Fowler and Velma Evon Dibbles Fowler on January 6, 1942 in Portageville, Missouri. At the age of 8, she was baptized in an irrigation canal off of the Mississippi River. When Maxine was 12, the family moved to Los Angeles, California where her father worked for the Douglass Aircraft Company and her mother worked as a switchboard operator at Gardena Memorial Hospital.

Maxine graduated from Phineas Banning High School in Wilmington, California in 1960. She worked as a home health aid and provided child care in her home. She was an avid crafter, learning macrame in the 1970s, and also enjoyed making paper boxes, elaborate pencil cups, and creating books for her grandchildren. She loved assembling jigsaw puzzles, country music, game shows, and true crime television.

She was preceeded in death by her beloved father, her mother, and her elder sister Mary Colleen Lanham.

Maxine is survived by; daughter Stephanie and her children Adam, Erica, and Parker; son Robert “Chip” Lee Ellis; daughter Kimberley and her children Erin, Conner, and Kelly; daughter Ann and her children, Dylan, Mason, and Peyton. Maxine was a proud great grandmother to Raiden, Addison, Olivia, Everett, and Kalliope.

Her generous spirit, gracious attitude, and sense of humor will be missed.