Mona Rae Buller

Mona Rae Buller 

Mona Rae Buller was born on March 19, 1932, in Abilene, Kansas, to Raymond and Hattie Wittman. Alongside her beloved brothers, Kenneth Wittman (96) and Robert Wittman (91), she spent her early years in Kansas before moving with her family to Colorado, where she graduated from Longmont High School in 1952.

Determined and ahead of her time, Mona Rae attended nursing school at the University of Denver in partnership with Presbyterian Hospital. She was among the first registered nurses to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), setting a precedent for lifelong learning and dedication to her profession.

While working as a nursing student at Presbyterian Hospital, she met her future husband, James “Jim” Buller, of Buhler, Kansas, who was then working as a laboratory technician. Their love story unfolded in the hospital’s busy hallways and led to their marriage in 1957 at Brighton United Methodist Church, where they would worship and serve together for the rest of their lives.

Mona Rae and Jim welcomed two children, Katherine Anne in 1958 and Timothy James in 1962. As Mona Rae raised her young family, she continued her nursing career, ultimately devoting decades of service to Brighton Community Hospital. As Head Nurse of the Operating Room, she led with skill, precision, and compassion, overseeing the launch of the “new” Operating Room at the hospital’s 18th and Egbert location. Patients and providers alike trusted that in her OR, they were in the best hands.

In 1965, Jim and Mona Rae purchased what became the family farm on Riverdale Road. They built their home by hand and tended the land together, creating a place where every grandchild—and later, many great-grandchildren—would simply call “home.” It would also be the place of family weddings and every family gathering.

Active in the Brighton United Methodist Church, Mona Rae was a familiar and welcome presence in the kitchen, cooking meals for countless gatherings and for Church Women United.

In retirement, she and Jim traveled across the country, through Russia and Europe, and to countless Colorado Buffaloes football games. She cherished “girls’ trips” with Katherine and her daughters, and never missed an opportunity for a road trip or an adventure.

Jim often said Mona Rae was the hardest-working person he had ever met. Her family and friends would agree—whether she was preparing a meal, leading an operating room, tending her gardens, or playing with her great-granddaughters, she poured herself fully into every moment. She never missed a grandparent’s day, a concert, or a chance to fly to California to help care for Tim’s children. Her eldest great-granddaughter affectionately named her “Grandma Play” for her boundless joy and love.

In her final days of a long and beautiful life, she held her two newest great-granddaughters, awaited the birth of another, and was surrounded by her husband, children, and grandchildren as she took her last breaths.

Mona Rae is survived by her devoted husband of 68 years, James Buller of Brighton; her daughter, Katherine Feis (Mark) of Brighton; her son, Timothy Buller of Brighton; grandchildren Anna Lisa Klynhans (Jonathan), Nicholas Buller (Rena), Julia Rae Walker (Michael), Zachary Buller, and Madison Buller; and great-granddaughters Isla Katherine, Ava James, Elia Rae, Margaux Anna Sarah, Millie Lane, Florence Amelia, and Harper Quinn, with another due soon. She is also survived by her brothers, Kenneth Wittman and Robert Wittman, and their children.

For those who loved her, Mona Rae—Mom, Grandma Rae, Grandma Play—is still here. She is in the gardens she tended, in every warm and generous meal, especially in her famous “Welcome Home Casserole.” She is in every good deed done quietly, every cup of tea shared, every burst of laughter, and every squeal of delight from her great-granddaughters.

She was home for all of us. And we miss her dearly.

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