La Mona Sherwood, 91, of Brookdale Skyline in Colorado Springs, CO, joined her beloved husband, Courtney in Heaven on November 15, 2022, with family by her side.
La Mona was an artist, a teacher, a loving wife, mother and grandmother and she will be greatly missed.
La Mona A. Rucker was born to the late Curtis and La Mona Rucker during the Great Depression on November 16, 1930 in Junction City, Kansas.
She grew up on the farm during the summers with older brother Curtis and younger brother John. She was Miss Eagle when she was a freshman in college, and in American Royal Pageant she won Miss Junction City.
She graduated from Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics and Art, with a Minor in Science and Psychology.
After graduation La Mona moved to Sublette in Western Kansas and worked as a Haskell County Extension Agent. La Mona was introduced by Art Sherwood to his son Courtney Sherwood while she was helping build a 4 – H float in his father’s round top barn. La Mona and Courtney were married on December 31, 1952 in Junction City, KS. Courtney farmed and aerial sprayed and they lived in an old house on the farm.
In September of 1953 La Mona was in a propane explosion. Her legs had 45% – 3rd degree burns and she was in the hospital for 3 months with skin grafts. She had to learn to walk again but she survived and recovered from her injuries.
In 1963 they had a house moved to the farm and remodeled it with a basement and sunroom. La Mona was an excellent homemaker with a beautiful lawn, trees
and gardens. La Mona and Courtney had three children, Denise, Curtis and Darlene. La Mona taught Home Economics and Art at Copeland High School from 1960 until 1974. She created beautiful ceramic pots on the wheel, acrylic paintings, dying and spinning wool, doing weavings on a loom.
La Mona retired from teaching and started a new career in Garden City, KS as School Food Service Director until 1977, when she took the job of School Food Service Director in Dodge City, KS, where she planned the menus, ordered the food and fed 3,000 students a day in ten kitchens with 26 helpers for 8 years.
La Mona and Courtney sold the family farm and moved to Dodge City, KS. In 1985 she started a Real Estate Career in Dodge City, after she got her broker’s
license. She purchased the Osage Building and opened Sherwood Realty Office at 1st and Wyatt Earp Blvd. Courtney and La Mona also had many houses that they remodeled and rented out in Dodge City.
La Mona and Courtney moved to Colorado Springs in 1993, to be nearer to their two daughters. They also remodeled an old house in Victor, CO where they enjoyed being with their daughters and grandchildren in the sunny Colorado days. La Mona babysat her two grandchildren until they started school. In the summers she took them to swimming lessons at the Little Dipper and Manitou Springs Pools.
Courtney passed away at age 87 on August 2, 2007. In 2012 La Mona moved into a Village at Skyline Independent Living apartment. She enjoyed going to Cripple Creek, reading, playing cards and painting watercolors. La Mona was immensely proud of her family and she loved her grandchildren, Courtney Rose, UNL – Lincoln, NE , Joseph, UCCS – Colorado Springs, CO, Julia Sherwood Doss (Derek), Nashville, TN, and Clement Sherwood, Univ. of Maine. She is survived by her brother John Rucker, Junction City, KS; and her three children, Denise, Colorado Springs , CO; Curtis (and Linda), Brookline, NH; Darlene (and Jody), Colorado Springs, CO and four grandchildren. La Mona leaves behind many beautiful memories for her family. She often repeated the quote: “Getting old isn’t for sissies!” but she always kept her keen mind and sense of humor. The family will have private services and burial will take place next to her husband, Courtney at the Haskell County Cemetery, Sublette, KS.
