Remembering Ms. Amy
Longtime Park Hill Kindergarten Teacher Was ‘The Brightest Of Lights’
By Cara DeGette
Editor, GPHN
Amy Jurgens Maes’s self-written biography on the Park Hill Elementary website is pure Amy: Breezy, smile-inducing, and to the point:
“This is my 29th year in education.
Came to Park Hill in 1999 (hahahahaha whoa!).
Favorite subject to teach is writing.
Park Hill Elementary is my home away from home, like a family to me.
Favorite thing about Kindergarten is watching them bloom into lifelong learners.
I love to spend time with my family, sail, play tennis, and travel.”
On Feb. 4, Maes died suddenly, following a brief and unexpected illness. She was 56. She leaves behind her two young adult children, CJ Mills and Gillian Mills, her dad, Danny Jurgens, scores of friends, her exes and admirers and a legacy that comes with teaching upwards of 1,000 young people over nearly three decades.
The loss of the beloved kindergarten teacher — Ms. Amy to her students — had an immediate and profound impact at the tight-knit elementary school. Principal Ken Burdette and the school’s staff and fellow teachers — several of whom were Amy’s closest friends — found themselves responding to the unthinkable: losing a teacher in the middle of the school year, conveying to their young students what that means, while working through their own grief.
On Feb. 8, hundreds gathered on the blacktop behind the school at 19th and Elm Street for a bubble ceremony and send-off for Ms. Amy. (Click here for Principal Burdette’s remarks and photos from that day.) Three days later a memorial service was held at the Denver Botanic Gardens, emceed by Amy’s longtime friend Wendy Barr. Many spoke — highlighting Amy’s always-sunny disposition, her ability to forge deep friendships, her unwavering love and commitment to teaching. And yes, her infectious giggle.
“My mom was the brightest light in my life,” said CJ Mills. “I know she was the brightest of lights for many of us — there to tell us no matter how dark things might get, bigger and better things lie ahead.”
“We wanted to thank you all for the love and support that fills this entire room, said Gillian Mills. “CJ and I got extremely lucky with the mama we chose and who loved us to the end of the earth. Between our squirrel language, Spanish and English, mama led leaders into this world, and made a mark too much to dream of.
“We have lost a legend, but we gained a beautiful guardian angel. I promise to make you proud each and every day. Meet you in the tulip garden, mama.”
On that emotional day, Amy’s dad, Danny Jurgens — himself a retired elementary school teacher — shared a couple of stories about his close bonds with his only child. (Her mom, Sherry, died when she was a young woman.) Jurgens described his daughter as his biggest champion, as well as his barber. He spoke with pride about the educator she had become.
“It was,” Jurgens said, “a joy to share Amy.”