Cleta Jasper, longtime pro-life activist, dies April 9 at age 87

PHOTO: Cleta Jasper is pictured with the "Wilson" award she won in 2019. (Herald file photo)

COLORADO SPRINGS. Cleta Jasper, a longtime member of St. Patrick Parish who was active in the Respect Life Apostolate, died April 9 after a lengthy battle with dementia.
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 16 at St. Patrick Parish. 

Jasper was born Sept. 15, 1937, in Marienthal, Kansas, the youngest of 14 children. When she was six years old, the family moved to the town of Hereford in western Texas. After graduating from high school in 1955, she worked as a bookkeeper in Texas and New Mexico. She met her husband, Herman, at a Catholic singles mixer in Amarillo. The couple married in 1963 and lived in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois before settling in Colorado Springs in 1992. They had four children. 

Jasper was active in pro-life and pro-family organizations for many years, at one point serving as state treasurer for Illinois Right to Life.

In Colorado, she remained active in the pro-life movement, and in 2019 she received the Father Bill Carmody Life Champion Award, also known as the “Wilson” award.   

Donations in Jasper’s name can be made to Catholic Charities of Central Colorado — Hunt Family Housing (providing transitional housing, support, and programming for families), Pikes Peak Citizens for Life, and the Alzheimer’s Association.