Penny Abney

Penny was born June 2, 1948 in Glendale, California to Doris and Gerry Grover. When Penny was two years old the family moved back to Grand Junction. The family lived on Main Street. They lived downstairs and rented out the upstairs.

Corliss said Penny was a happy person. Penny would laugh through a television show, while Corliss asked her self what was so funny. Penny always wanted people to have what she didn’t have in her life. Penny was fun, generous, and mischievous. Doris was once painting the upstairs and left the paint can and paint brush in the open. Penny, wanting to help, painted walls, floor, and furniture. You had to keep an eye on her.

The family moved all the way out to Appleton when Penny was in second grade. Penny always rememberd watching the Appleton School burn down – especially the stair case.

She and neighbor kids were friends. One night, while in their pj’s they TP a house. The two friends were grounded. Penny’s parents did not ground her. Penny did have trouble differentiating produce. One evening she went to steal a watermelon from a neighbor’s garden. She came home with a cantaloupe! She was teased about this incident for years. When Penny was little she enjoyed living close to the Appleton market because she could buy so much candy for just pennies.

Penny had a beautiful voice. . She sang in the choir at GJHS and in the church choir. She graduated June 2, 1966 on her 18th birthday.

Penny could often be found on North Avenue. She raced a guy who knew her dad. When Penny won the race, the boy said he was going to tell her dad she was racing! Penny, replied, “Go ahead. My dad will only ask if I won the race.” Well her dad found out about the race…and he asked, “Did she win the race?”

Penny was a prankster. One of her sisters and her sister’s friends were playing with an Ouija Board. When they all got up to go onto the kitchen the left the game piece on a specific letter saying, “If this moves, then we will know it is real.” Penny came in from the other room and moved the game piece and then left the room. When the girls came back and saw that the game piece moved they started screaming moving towards hysterical. Penny had to come in and calm them by saying she had moved the game piece.

Another time Kathy drove her car to the store. The family followed, used an extra set of keys to move the car and left the other car. Watching from across the street the family stand there asking herself, “Did I drive thiscar?”

Her jokes and stories can be outlandish and Kara said she would believe them for years as a child. Ask Kara about some of those stories.

While Penny took some classes at Mesa, she was a “learn on the job” person who then made the job and company better. She worked for many years for Spartan Electronics. When they started a second site in Florida Penny went to help with the start up. She met and married her husband in Florida. Kara was born while they were in Florida. After eight years in Florida Penny moved back to Colorado. She began working for AmatekDixon where she made a big difference in the effectiveness of the company.

This is when Penny and Kara moved in with Gerry and Doris to assist them in caring for the house and property. Later, when Penny planned to move her parents said they would miss Kara. So the two stayed. Penny retired from Haliburton in 2005.

Penny enjoyed crochet, singing in the church choir, and Nintindo game boy. Penny was relentless as a gamer – so much so she hurt her thumb. Penny also enjoyed watching Amazing Race. Kara thinks Penny satisfied her desire to travel by watching the show. She could see the places she had always wanted to travel and couldn’t. Penny enjoyed embarrassing Kara as well. Once, with Kara and Kara’s friends, Penny took them all to the movies. The movie was Chicken Run. When Penny bought the tickets she did a type of chicken dance. The girls all ran away in horrified mortification.

Penny would also go the extra mile for people. When her mother, Doris, was sick Doris said that she wished she had a stew from a favorite place in Montrose. Penny and Kara drove to Montrose and brought back the stew for Doris.

Penny also collected. She collected crosses, signs that said “believe” watermelon knick knacks (not cataplope), and family/friends helped the collections grow!

When the Girls Club started Penny enjoyed being the gossip coordinator and involved. On the other hand Penny prayed out of her faith God heard her. She also believed, her favorite word, heaven waited for her and this brought her great comfort.

Kara and Penny were close, often spending whole weekends together and then crying on Sunday evening because they couldn’t spend all day Monday together. The two were best friends.

Penny always made sure Kara had what she needed; this wasn’t always easy for a single parent. Looking back as an adult, Kara is grateful for Penny’s generosity and also wishing her mom had done more for herself.

Kara said, “Mom was there when I took my first breath on earth. I was there with her when she took her last breath on earth. Penny’s first day in heaven was October 3, 2020. We miss her. We know she is enjoying Heaven."