Elaine Elizabeth Van Booven
Elaine Elizabeth Van Booven was born in Akron, Ohio, on Nov. 8, 1917, to Ester Laura Whipple Davidson and Jessie McKinley Davidson.
Elaine was the youngest of three beautiful girls. Grace “Fern” was born in 1915 and Ester “Nadine” in 1916. When Elaine was two, the family moved to Denver when Jessie accepted a job teaching chemistry at East High.
Two years later, Jessie was offered a job as school principal, moving the family to Kremlin, Colo.; then to Silverton and next to Arapahoe school in Boulder.
When she was 10, Jessie abandoned them, making it necessary for the girls to work to help supplement Ester’s income.
Many summers, their house near the University of Colorado was rented out to visiting professors while the family lived for free in a cabin at Bluebird Mines. In spite of these difficulties, Elaine graduated from CU with a degree in elementary education.
Elaine was a shy, popular girl who possessed drive and vision. In preparatory school at University Hill, she belonged to the DIN (Do It Now) Club. At Boulder High, she and eleven of her female friends became known as the TNT’s, (Twelve Non Touch-ables), and she was runner up in a beauty contest.
Beautiful, creative and frugal, with a love for fabric and fashion, Elaine made most of her own clothes, hats, fabulous costumes, and attire for her daughters’ weddings. She also modeled for Scott’s Limited, a Boulder boutique.
While attending the University of Colorado, her mother was house mother and cook at the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.
On special occasions, Elaine would help Ester, catching the attention of fraternity president, Paul Clifton Dukes, a mechanical engineering student. After a two-year courtship and graduation for both, they married.
A job with Westinghouse took them to Pennsylvania where their first child, Christy Lou, was born. Two months later they returned to Denver, with Paul having been diagnosed with leukemia.
They bought a house at 2500 Locust St., just a few blocks from Paul’s parents on Mount View Boulevard. Paul Clifton Jr. was born. Elaine was pregnant with their third child, Lewis Bond II, when Paul died at home. Ester, also living with them, passed away two years later from stomach cancer.
As time passed, Elaine was introduced by mutual friends to George Robert Van Booven of Slater, Mo., and they soon wed.
They purchased a lot on King Avenue in Boulder and Elaine designed the house that was then built by Mr. King. They also purchased the Lafayette Grain and Elevator Co., which George ran for many years, along with serving as a county commissioner.
Elaine bore two children with George — Michellene and Dee Ann.
Elaine was a petite lady who was perpetually tan from sitting in the sun while sewing or taking in nature’s many splendors from the picture windows of her home near the “Flat Irons” of Boulder. She and George loved Mexico in the winter and had many adventures there while making new and dear friends. They moved many times within the city limits of Boulder before George’s passing.
Elaine later enjoyed three different homes near Santa Fe, N.M., and her final one in Green Valley, Ariz.
She spent her last years in Sandpoint, Idaho, near Christy, Paul and Misha. She passed away peacefully on Feb. 13, 2009, at Life Care Center.
Elaine was preceded in death by her parents, sisters, Fern and Nadine, both husbands, and two grandsons. She leaves behind her five children: Christy Dukes (Dick Pospahala); Paul Dukes (Val LaRose); Lew Dukes (Sue Preston); Misha Van Booven (Steve Carlson); and Dede Van Booven (Doug Crowder), 10 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren and many friends with Boulder roots.
They will cherish memories of her beautiful blue eyes, her love of nature, fabrics, fashion, design, music, and poetry; and her amazing ability to create fabulous garments with only her scissors, needle and thread.