After battling a long illness, 72-year-old Alva Munds passed away Feb. 3 at Denver Hospice on the Lowry Campus. Family members assembled to be with her during the final days of her life.
Alva Lane Cherry was born Nov. 1, 1938 in Portsmouth, Va. Her dad fathered Alva and her brother Alvin by his first wife plus four children by his second wife. As the oldest child, Alva was expected to help care for her siblings and to take care of the house.
She left high school during her senior year to work to help support her family . In May 1958, she met Air Force Airman First Class Tom Munds on a Grayhound bus. They were engaged 10 days after they met and two were married on Aug. 18 of that same year in Mobile, Ala.
The couple had three children, Gayle, Martha and Thomas. Alva dealt with many of the challenges of raising two girls and a boy because her husband was frequently serving with the Air Force in remote areas overseas.
After two previous tours at Lowry AFB, the Munds family decided to settle in the Denver area in 1966 even though Tom remained in the Air Force, served almost three years overseas before he retired from the Air Force in 1976.
Alva's focus was her always children and she didn't work outside the home until her youngest child, Thomas, was in school. She first took a job with Denver Public Schools as a crossing guard on a busy street near her children's school. A couple years later she accepted a job in the lunch room of that same school.
Alva studied at home and earned her GED diploma so she could take the necessary classes needed to become a school lunchroom manager. She managed lunchrooms at several schools before chronic pain forced her to cut her food service career short and retire from the schools in 1989. However, never one to be idle, she joined forces with her daughter Gayle as they got even more involved in filling special orders for decorated cakes and making hand-dipped filled chocolates from home. She also volunteered hundreds of hours, working with a non-profit organization helping the poor .
She and her husband liked to travel. They took numerous road trips to Virginia, Nashville and Southern Florida plus they took two-week tours to both Israel and Western Europe.
Her activities decreased as her health declined which included the onset of Alzheimer's. Her eldest daughter Gayle took care of her so she could remain in the family's home. Family members from Colorado and Florida gathered when she was moved to Denver Hospice.
In keeping with her wishes, her body was donated to Science Care for use in medical training and Alzheimer's research. The family is planning a memorial celebration of her life before the end of February and, in the spring, the plans are to plant trees in her memory in the back yard of the family home, her son Tom's home and in an Englewood Park.
She is preceded in death by her father Alvin Cherry, her mother Nellie Mae Kessler, her brother Alvin Cherry and her daughter Martha Bradford. She is survived by her husband Tom of Denver, her daughter Gayle of Denver, her son Tom of Thornton, her sister Letha Giacinti of Florida, her sisters Claudia Ward, Anne Rollins and Judy Chambers x of Virginia, her brother Roy Cherry of Virginia, five grandchildren, Tim Madonna, Cory Munds, Cody Bradford, Michel Munds and Tawnee Bradford, and two great grandchildren.
The family asked that, in lieu of flowers donations be made in her memory to Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry St., Denver, CO 80246-1328.
Scheduled for May 15, 2020 which did not occur, perhaps due to pandemic moved to a future date.
Now scheduled for Sep 18, 2020
Alva Lane Cherry was born Nov. 1, 1938 in Portsmouth, Va. Her dad fathered Alva and her brother Alvin by his first wife plus four children by his second wife. As the oldest child, Alva was expected to help care for her siblings and to take care of the house.
She left high school during her senior year to work to help support her family . In May 1958, she met Air Force Airman First Class Tom Munds on a Grayhound bus. They were engaged 10 days after they met and two were married on Aug. 18 of that same year in Mobile, Ala.
The couple had three children, Gayle, Martha and Thomas. Alva dealt with many of the challenges of raising two girls and a boy because her husband was frequently serving with the Air Force in remote areas overseas.
After two previous tours at Lowry AFB, the Munds family decided to settle in the Denver area in 1966 even though Tom remained in the Air Force, served almost three years overseas before he retired from the Air Force in 1976.
Alva's focus was her always children and she didn't work outside the home until her youngest child, Thomas, was in school. She first took a job with Denver Public Schools as a crossing guard on a busy street near her children's school. A couple years later she accepted a job in the lunch room of that same school.
Alva studied at home and earned her GED diploma so she could take the necessary classes needed to become a school lunchroom manager. She managed lunchrooms at several schools before chronic pain forced her to cut her food service career short and retire from the schools in 1989. However, never one to be idle, she joined forces with her daughter Gayle as they got even more involved in filling special orders for decorated cakes and making hand-dipped filled chocolates from home. She also volunteered hundreds of hours, working with a non-profit organization helping the poor .
She and her husband liked to travel. They took numerous road trips to Virginia, Nashville and Southern Florida plus they took two-week tours to both Israel and Western Europe.
Her activities decreased as her health declined which included the onset of Alzheimer's. Her eldest daughter Gayle took care of her so she could remain in the family's home. Family members from Colorado and Florida gathered when she was moved to Denver Hospice.
In keeping with her wishes, her body was donated to Science Care for use in medical training and Alzheimer's research. The family is planning a memorial celebration of her life before the end of February and, in the spring, the plans are to plant trees in her memory in the back yard of the family home, her son Tom's home and in an Englewood Park.
She is preceded in death by her father Alvin Cherry, her mother Nellie Mae Kessler, her brother Alvin Cherry and her daughter Martha Bradford. She is survived by her husband Tom of Denver, her daughter Gayle of Denver, her son Tom of Thornton, her sister Letha Giacinti of Florida, her sisters Claudia Ward, Anne Rollins and Judy Chambers x of Virginia, her brother Roy Cherry of Virginia, five grandchildren, Tim Madonna, Cory Munds, Cody Bradford, Michel Munds and Tawnee Bradford, and two great grandchildren.
The family asked that, in lieu of flowers donations be made in her memory to Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry St., Denver, CO 80246-1328.
Scheduled for May 15, 2020 which did not occur, perhaps due to pandemic moved to a future date.
Now scheduled for Sep 18, 2020
After battling a long illness, 72-year-old Alva Munds passed away Feb. 3 at Denver Hospice on the Lowry Campus. Family members assembled to be with her during the final days of her life.
Alva Lane Cherry was born Nov. 1, 1938 in Portsmouth, Va. Her dad fathered Alva and her brother Alvin by his first wife plus four children by his second wife. As the oldest child, Alva was expected to help care for her siblings and to take care of the house.
She left high school during her senior year to work to help support her family . In May 1958, she met Air Force Airman First Class Tom Munds on a Grayhound bus. They were engaged 10 days after they met and two were married on Aug. 18 of that same year in Mobile, Ala.
The couple had three children, Gayle, Martha and Thomas. Alva dealt with many of the challenges of raising two girls and a boy because her husband was frequently serving with the Air Force in remote areas overseas.
After two previous tours at Lowry AFB, the Munds family decided to settle in the Denver area in 1966 even though Tom remained in the Air Force, served almost three years overseas before he retired from the Air Force in 1976.
Alva's focus was her always children and she didn't work outside the home until her youngest child, Thomas, was in school. She first took a job with Denver Public Schools as a crossing guard on a busy street near her children's school. A couple years later she accepted a job in the lunch room of that same school.
Alva studied at home and earned her GED diploma so she could take the necessary classes needed to become a school lunchroom manager. She managed lunchrooms at several schools before chronic pain forced her to cut her food service career short and retire from the schools in 1989. However, never one to be idle, she joined forces with her daughter Gayle as they got even more involved in filling special orders for decorated cakes and making hand-dipped filled chocolates from home. She also volunteered hundreds of hours, working with a non-profit organization helping the poor .
She and her husband liked to travel. They took numerous road trips to Virginia, Nashville and Southern Florida plus they took two-week tours to both Israel and Western Europe.
Her activities decreased as her health declined which included the onset of Alzheimer's. Her eldest daughter Gayle took care of her so she could remain in the family's home. Family members from Colorado and Florida gathered when she was moved to Denver Hospice.
In keeping with her wishes, her body was donated to Science Care for use in medical training and Alzheimer's research. The family is planning a memorial celebration of her life before the end of February and, in the spring, the plans are to plant trees in her memory in the back yard of the family home, her son Tom's home and in an Englewood Park.
She is preceded in death by her father Alvin Cherry, her mother Nellie Mae Kessler, her brother Alvin Cherry and her daughter Martha Bradford. She is survived by her husband Tom of Denver, her daughter Gayle of Denver, her son Tom of Thornton, her sister Letha Giacinti of Florida, her sisters Claudia Ward, Anne Rollins and Judy Chambers x of Virginia, her brother Roy Cherry of Virginia, five grandchildren, Tim Madonna, Cory Munds, Cody Bradford, Michel Munds and Tawnee Bradford, and two great grandchildren.
The family asked that, in lieu of flowers donations be made in her memory to Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry St., Denver, CO 80246-1328.
Scheduled for May 15, 2020 which did not occur, perhaps due to pandemic moved to a future date.
Now scheduled for Sep 18, 2020
Alva Lane Cherry was born Nov. 1, 1938 in Portsmouth, Va. Her dad fathered Alva and her brother Alvin by his first wife plus four children by his second wife. As the oldest child, Alva was expected to help care for her siblings and to take care of the house.
She left high school during her senior year to work to help support her family . In May 1958, she met Air Force Airman First Class Tom Munds on a Grayhound bus. They were engaged 10 days after they met and two were married on Aug. 18 of that same year in Mobile, Ala.
The couple had three children, Gayle, Martha and Thomas. Alva dealt with many of the challenges of raising two girls and a boy because her husband was frequently serving with the Air Force in remote areas overseas.
After two previous tours at Lowry AFB, the Munds family decided to settle in the Denver area in 1966 even though Tom remained in the Air Force, served almost three years overseas before he retired from the Air Force in 1976.
Alva's focus was her always children and she didn't work outside the home until her youngest child, Thomas, was in school. She first took a job with Denver Public Schools as a crossing guard on a busy street near her children's school. A couple years later she accepted a job in the lunch room of that same school.
Alva studied at home and earned her GED diploma so she could take the necessary classes needed to become a school lunchroom manager. She managed lunchrooms at several schools before chronic pain forced her to cut her food service career short and retire from the schools in 1989. However, never one to be idle, she joined forces with her daughter Gayle as they got even more involved in filling special orders for decorated cakes and making hand-dipped filled chocolates from home. She also volunteered hundreds of hours, working with a non-profit organization helping the poor .
She and her husband liked to travel. They took numerous road trips to Virginia, Nashville and Southern Florida plus they took two-week tours to both Israel and Western Europe.
Her activities decreased as her health declined which included the onset of Alzheimer's. Her eldest daughter Gayle took care of her so she could remain in the family's home. Family members from Colorado and Florida gathered when she was moved to Denver Hospice.
In keeping with her wishes, her body was donated to Science Care for use in medical training and Alzheimer's research. The family is planning a memorial celebration of her life before the end of February and, in the spring, the plans are to plant trees in her memory in the back yard of the family home, her son Tom's home and in an Englewood Park.
She is preceded in death by her father Alvin Cherry, her mother Nellie Mae Kessler, her brother Alvin Cherry and her daughter Martha Bradford. She is survived by her husband Tom of Denver, her daughter Gayle of Denver, her son Tom of Thornton, her sister Letha Giacinti of Florida, her sisters Claudia Ward, Anne Rollins and Judy Chambers x of Virginia, her brother Roy Cherry of Virginia, five grandchildren, Tim Madonna, Cory Munds, Cody Bradford, Michel Munds and Tawnee Bradford, and two great grandchildren.
The family asked that, in lieu of flowers donations be made in her memory to Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry St., Denver, CO 80246-1328.
Scheduled for May 15, 2020 which did not occur, perhaps due to pandemic moved to a future date.
Now scheduled for Sep 18, 2020
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Interred: Sep 18, 2020
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