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Jean M. McFaul

August 26, 1956 — February 24, 2017

Jean M. McFaul, a former resident of Carbondale, died Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in her apartment in Fort Collins, Colo. She was 60 years old, and lost the fight to metastasized breast cancer after almost two years. She was able to remain at home and be cared for by her daughter and a friend of the family until the very end.

Jean was born in the U.S. Army Hospital of Heidelberg, Germany, on August 26, 1956, to Fred McFaul and Dorothy (Keil) McFaul. Her father, a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army, was stationed in Germany following the end of World War II, and her mother was educated as a teacher in Buffalo, NY, but became a homemaker upon joining her husband in post-war Germany. Together they had 8 children, of whom Jean was the 2nd youngest.

Jean moved to Colorado in 1976. She had always being drawn to the Old West from movies she watched as a child, and moved there to join her future husband, Tom Morstein-Marx. They had a daughter — Bonnie — in 1978 and settled outside of Carbondale for a time. Jean later attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where she received a B.A. in Social Work in 1985. Thereafter she received her M.A. in Elementary Education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1988. Upon completing her education, Jean and her daughter, Bonnie, moved back to the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley. She accepted a teaching position at Basalt Elementary School, and taught there for 20 years before retiring in 2008. She was much loved by her students and colleagues for her gentle and sensitive nature, and her dedication to her students. In her free time that was not spent planning lessons and grading papers, she enjoyed hiking, camping, biking, taking road trips to National Parks across the mountain west, and reading the Bible.

After retiring in 2008, she moved to Vermont to be close to her younger brother, James McFaul, who had moved there with his family of 5 children. She enjoyed the lush green of Vermont but missed the Colorado mountains and sunshine, and in June 2010 she moved back to Colorado to be closer to her daughter, Bonnie, who had recently married and adopted 3 children. She settled in Fort Collins, where she lived the remaining years of her life.

She is survived by her daughter, Bonnie Johnston of Johnstown, Colo., and her family, as well as siblings Bruce McFaul, Andrew McFaul, Matthew McFaul, Robert McFaul, Kathy McFaul-Schleich, and James McFaul.


A private service for her family will be held later this year. In lieu of flowers, please donate to World Vision or the Samaritan’s Purse.