Radio host, philanthropist Lila Jean Stewart dies at 85

LONGMONT» A pillar of the community known for her generous spirit died Wednesday night after a battle with dementia, just 10 days short of her 86th birthday.

Lila Jean Stewart and her husband, William G. “Bill” Stewart, moved to Longmont in 1959 and bought the local radio station KLMO. They went on to help fund the Longmont Museum and its auditorium, which bears their name.

“In 2018, in some ways, Longmont is a richer community than ever but in other ways we are a way less generous community than we have ever been,” said Matt Eldred, executive director of TLC Learning Center. “We need to find more people like Lila Jean who can find the good in Longmont and give to others.”

Stewart, who was raised in Greeley after being born in 1932 to Gottlieb and Winnie Bohlender, defied expectations of the 1950s and 1960s to stay home and be a housewife, and spent much of her time alongside her husband at the radio station.

“She was a vivacious lady. And soon after they came to Longmont, she started a radio program of her own called ‘Happy Talk,’ ” said George Baskos, who worked as a KLMO news reporter. “She developed quite a following among women in the area.”

“Happy Talk” covered women’s issues and shared housekeeping tips and recipes. It was on the air for two hours every weekday morning until Stewart retired in 1987. Eventually she published cookbooks of recipes from listeners and hosted gatherings for fans of the show.

During their tenure at KLMO, the Stewarts expanded its reach and sharpened its community voice. They increased the station’s power from 250 watts to ultimately 10,000 watts so that its programming reached not just northern Colorado, but southwest Nebraska and parts of Wyoming.

Baskos said a large part of Lila Jean Stewart’s legacy from her early years in Longmont was her use of the inherent intimacy of radio to firm up a sense of community around the then-small town.

“They wanted a pretty heavy emphasis on covering local events and local news of all kinds,” he said of the Stewarts. “The radio station provided a conduit for local people to be able to listen to each other.”

Lila Jean Stewart was active in several community organizations in Longmont during her lifetime. A Times-call brief from May 1974 states that she was a member of the board of directors of the American Women in Radio and Television and attended the association’s national convention in New York City.

Another undated item from the Times-call archives reported that she started the Longmont chapter of the American Business Women Association and was the first president.

The couple sold KLMO in 1998, and Stewart ramped up her involvement in community organizations, especially those that supported and benefited women. She was an active member in both the local chapters of the Red Hat Society and Soroptimist International.

Through her work with the Longmont chapter of Soroptimist International, Stewart helped found annual fundraiser events to support what was then called the Tiny Tim school and is now the TLC Learning Center. The school educates both typical and special needs children side by side.

“She was one of the founding mothers of the Christmas Tree festival in December,” Eldred said.

The festival, started in 1980, is a potluck in which people bring food and donated trees. The trees are then sold and 100 percent of the proceeds go to scholarships for children who don’t have the means to attend the school.

Eldred doubted that TLC Learning Center would still exist without Lila Jean Stewart’s continuous support and generosity.

When the Stewarts’ only daughter, Linda Jean Stennette, died in 2009 following open heart surgery, her mother became more involved with fundraising for the Tiny Tim school.

“When her one child died at a young age, she kind of took TLC under her wing as her extended family,” Eldred said. “She considered all of the children her children and part of her family.” He added that she helped considerably with the school’s capital campaign for its new building on Korte Parkway.

Wesley Jessup, former director of the Longmont Museum, said Lila Jean Stewart was a thoroughly generous person who made the museum and auditorium possible.

“You know, Lila put her money where her mouth was and really stepped up,” he said.

The Stewarts contributed about $1 million to building the museum in 2002, something Jessup, who is now executive director of the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane, Wash., said not too many people know.

More public is the couple’s $2.3 million donation to the Stewart Auditorium. The money represented about half the total for the auditorium, with the other half coming from local donors as well as high-profile grants. Lila Jean Stewart also gave to the University of Colorado athletic department in memory of her daughter, who was a CU graduate.

The source of the $2.3 million for the auditorium was a secret until the couple went public in 2012 and challenged the Longmont community to join them in contributing to the capital campaign for the auditorium.

Stewart is survived by one of her three brothers, Jim Bohlender of Holyoke.

A public memorial service for Stewart will be at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 11, her birthday, in the Stewart Auditorium. Doors open at 10 a.m. and the memorial will begin at 10:30 a.m.