Colleen Joan March (née Kell) passed away on 29 March, 2025. She had been in decline with Parkinson's over her last years.  Before that the was an active, capable and caring mother and grandmother after her years of service in education and social work.  

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she was an exemplary student, performing piano concerts, editing the school newspaper and being elected to the National Honour Society before graduating from Bay View High School.  She then studied piano and flute at the music conservatory in St Louis, Missouri, before taking further studies in education at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee where she met her ex-husband and the father of her four children.  

As a young mother with four under five years old, Colleen still had the patience and aptitude to cook, clean, tailor clothes, knit sweaters, bake pies and keep everyone's hair combed and outfits neat and presentable.  Once all the children started school, she became a music teacher in the local public school before completing a degree in education and social work.  She rose to become manager of a social service workshop which she led for many years until the funding cuts of the Reagan administration closed them.

This setback forced Colleen to reenter the workforce in her fifties but with her perseverance she found excellent positions in Arizona to be nearer her children who had moved to the Southwest one-by-one.  Eventually, Colleen settled in Tucson, bought a home and supported her daughters and grandchildren, often having them live with her and attending to the young ones as needed. She continued working into her seventies as a guidance and career counsellor in the local public school system.

In many ways, Colleen's life presented challenges that the talented student back in Bay View would not have imagined, but she confronted them all calmly and diligently, supported by her faith. Her keen intellect, even diminished by disease and medications, was sharp and her smile lit up in recognition of a sweet story or family visit.  She passed quickly and without great pain, so we hope that she is in the place of mercy and grace that she envisioned.