Denise Behnke age 51 passed away on April 15, 2015 due to complications associated with diabetes. She was born October 17, 1963 in Stuttgart, Germany. She was a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado for the past 25 years and was formerly a resident of Las Alamos, New Mexico and San Francisco, California. She graduated from Las Alamos High school in 1982.
Denise had many jobs throughout the years from nanny to bartender, but her favorite was being a dog handler at the Greyhound tracks around Colorado. For the last 16 years she has been a stay at home mom not only to her daughter Jade, but to many of the neighborhood kids and Jade’s friends from school. Around the house she was known as Mamma D. She had a big heart and would give them anything; food if they were hungry; an ear if they needed to talk; a place to sleep if they had nowhere to go and if they were cold she would give them the coat off her back.
Denise had a great fondness for wolves. If she saw something with a wolf on it she had to have it and donated to the American Wolf Preservation Society when she could. If she could she would bring home every dog and cat at the pound. She rescued many over the years and adopted retired Greyhounds too. She loved her pets.
Denise is survived by her loving husband, Kevin Smith; her daughter, Jade; her mother, Marie (John) Thalheimer Lonnergan; her father, Richard (Nancy) Behnke.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at the Shrine of Remembrance “America the Beautiful” Chapel, 1730 E. Fountain Blvd, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80910.
Memorials may be made in her name to the American Diabetes Association at donations.diabetes.org
Denise will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten.