September 14th, 1934 - September 21st, 2023
Linda Jeanne (Snodgrass) Jourgensen, 89, the second female mayor to serve the City of Boulder and a champion for open space and the city’s arts community, died on Thursday, Sept. 21, at Frasier Retirement Community in Boulder.
The daughter of Jesse K. Snodgrass and Lillian Luella Hawthorne, Jourgensen grew up in Fort Morgan and was a 1952 graduate of Fort Morgan High School. She was the sister of the late Jane (Snodgrass) Houston.
She initially attended Wellesley College before graduating the University of Colorado in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts.
She married John A. Jourgensen, a Casper Wyoming native, and they lived in Casper where their three children were born. The couple divorced in 1977.
The family moved to Boulder in 1968. A social activist in Casper, Linda Jourgensen became involved in Boulder politics in 1973, initially working on several campaigns.
Jourgensen was elected to the City Council in 1977 and was re-elected in 1981 and 1985, serving as deputy mayor before being chosen to be mayor in January 1986, succeeding the late Ruth Correll.
The Daily Camera said, “Jourgensen helped to establish a new spirit of cooperation in the city of Boulder.”
A passionate advocate for open space protection, Jourgensen’s commitment to public service extended globally: She led a city delegation to Dushanbe, Tajikistan in 1988 to strengthen a sister city agreement. This partnership brought the Dushanbe Tea House to Boulder that was hand carved and hand painted by 40 Tajik artisans. The tea house is an iconic restaurant in the community.
Picked for the position in 1990, Jourgensen was the third woman in county history to serve as Boulder County Commissioner. Her father had served as a Morgan County commissioner.
She was assistant director for Attention Homes, now TGTHR, for seven years. She served on the board of the Boulder Homeless Shelter, and the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.
A musician since her childhood, she translated her love for classical music into helping to build Boulder’s art community. She co-founded the Colorado Chamber Orchestra in 1976; the Boulder Bach Festival in 1981, and the Dairy Arts Center in 1992.
An avid trail runner and hiker, she oversaw two Fort Morgan farms with her late sister for 50 years.
She leaves her children, Thor Jourgensen of Lynn, Massachusetts and his wife, Mary Clutchey; Rolf Jourgensen of Walnut Creek, California and his wife Maria Butler, and Maia Jourgensen of Crested Butte, Colorado and her husband Stephen Saunders; five grandchildren, Erik, Siena, Peter, Kendall and Grant, and two great grandchildren, Zoey and Otto.
She married the late David Taylor, the former deputy director general for the United Nation’s International Labor Organization and a former assistant secretary of Defense in 2004. He preceded her in death.
She was a resident of Frasier Retirement Community since 2019.
A service is planned in her memory at a later date.
