Naomi Ely

Naomi Essex was born on September 9, 1923 to Scott and Eleanor (McFetridge) Essex on a farm south of Limon and died on February 15, 2025 in her home in Limon. Except for brief periods in California, Colorado Springs, and Tennessee Naomi lived her entire life in the Limon area.

In 1943, Naomi met and married Ralph Ely and they soon made their home in Limon. Five children were born to the couple, Walter, Kathleen, Janet, Mary and Gene (Jody). Naomi was very involved in church, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and school activities. She held a variety of jobs in the food service industry and was known to her co-workers as a kind and patient teacher and to her bosses as an always dependable and hard worker. 

After Ralph’s death in 1970 and the graduation of her youngest child, Naomi combatted her empty nest by becoming a foster parent and caring for her mother. When the Limon Correctional Facility opened, Naomi found her next calling as a volunteer with Prison Fellowship. She spent the next 25 years participating in worship services and programs, visiting with inmates, making lifelong friends, and affecting the lives of all she came in contact with inside the prison walls. 

Church had always been central to Naomi’s life, and she remained an active and important member of the Hugo United Methodist Church until her death. She loved her church, family, garden, cats, any child she ever met, and a good joke. 

Naomi was preceded in death by her parents Scott and Eleanor, brothers Sherman (aged 2) and Norman, husband Ralph, and daughter Kathleen Lyons and her husband Gerry. She is survived by her children Walt and Joyce Ely of Washington, Illinois, Janet and Daril Garvin of Poteau, Oklahoma, Mary Ely of Limon, and Jody and Hope Ely of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, eight grandchildren. Eleven great-grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews, and a host of friends and lives she had touched. She will be cremated and inurned with Ralph in the Simla Cemetery and a celebration of her life will be held on June 2, 2025 at Love Funeral Home chapel in Limon.

In lieu of flowers, Naomi’s family requests that donations be made to the St. Bonaventure Indian Home and Mission, P.O. Box 610, Thoreau, NM 87323-0610; Springs Rescue Mission, 5 West Las Vegas St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903; or High Plains Animal Fund, 56545 County Road 26, Limon, CO 80828.