Georgia “Jodie” Smith Burrows…March 7, 1938 – March 14, 2016

Bristol Resident, recently residing in Alamosa, Georgia “Jodie” Smith Burrows, 78, a beautiful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, teacher and friend took her last breath March 14, 2016 at the Evergreen Nursing Home in Alamosa. She has begun a new journey – a journey without pain, without sorrow, without worry – a journey beside her Lord and Savior.

Jodie as she was known to her friends and family, Ms. Burrows to her students, was born in Mesita, Colorado on March 7, 1938 to Lester Harold and Dorothy Elizabeth (Zafke) Smith. She was the middle child of four brothers and two sisters who survived infancy.  Jodie was united in marriage to Thomas Andrew Burrows on December 24, 1958 in Mexico.  They were parents of two children Tom and D’Ellen.  He preceded her in death in October, 1961.  In August 1962, Jodie moved her young family, her parents and her youngest brother to Bristol, Colorado to begin a teaching career in Granada.  In October, 1964, she was united in marriage to Raymond L. Burrows, Jr.  To this marriage was born Leslie and Raymond III.  Ray and Jodie were married for 50 years before his passing in January, 2015.

Ray was in the Army and so the family moved where the military sent them. Jodie loved to travel and saw each move as an adventure.  While raising her family, Jodie continued to teach wherever and whenever possible, including the military base in Okinawa.  In April 1972, Ray, Jodie and family returned to Bristol, Colorado, where Jodie would again return to teaching in the Granada School system for another 28 years.  She taught three generations of children and remembered them all.  Education was a passion of hers which she tirelessly passed on to all her students.  No matter what path her students followed, she loved it when they came back to the area and came to visit her.  She loved people; she loved kids.  A trip to the grocery store could take several hours, depending on how many people she ran into that she knew.

After retiring from teaching, Jodie spent her time loving and caring for her family and neighbors and keeping up to date with her friends from the military and school years. Life was too precious to waste and she wanted to live it to its fullest.  The members of the Bristol/Granada community had embraced her when she first moved there in 1962 and she truly cared for all of them.  Jodie was a member of the Methodist Church in Mesita before becoming a member of and raising her children in the Bristol United Methodist Church.  She taught adult Sunday school for many years and helped with Vacation Bible School in the summer when she wasn’t teaching summer school.  Jodie had a beautiful voice and she loved to sing.

She is survived by her children Thomas “Tom” Burrows of Alamosa, D’Ellen Berndt (Richard Cox) of Lamar, CO, Leslie R. (Peter) Grogan of London, England and Ray L. (Svetlana) Burrows III of Denver, CO; as well as her sister Glen Mary (Don) Bates of Houston, TX; as well as fifteen grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, extended family and many, many friends.

Jodie is preceded in death by her parents, her first and second husbands, her brothers Roy Smith, Dennis Smith, Terrence Smith, Neil Smith, her sister Ann Utt, her mother and father-in-law, Raymond L. and Ellen May Burrows Sr, her sisters-in-law Janice Smith and Helen Smith, and her brother-in-law Bill Utt.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at a later date in Bristol, Colorado.

Rogers Family Mortuary of Alamosa is in care of the local arrangements. Online condolences, remarks and tributes may be left for Jodie’s family by visiting her obituary at www.rogersfunerals.com