Genevieve Marjorie Deckert Ames was born on November 28, 1929, to Marjorie Parkin Deckert and Herbert Deckert in Southington, Connecticut. As a very young child, her family began calling her “Boots” after an impish cartoon character that was very popular at the time. The cartoon faded into obscurity, but Boots carried the name forward with her own unique brand of panache for more than nine decades until she passed away peacefully on October 21, 2022, at Moab Regional Hospital following a brief illness.
As a young single woman, Boots moved from Connecticut to Santa Barbara, California, where she launched her career as an executive secretary for a prestigious civil engineering firm. In Santa Barbara, she met Albert “Bert” Ames, a World War II veteran of the brutal battles in the Philippines. Boots and Bert were married on August 4, 1956, and embarked on their lives together for nearly five decades of joyful adventuring, including camping, hiking and bicycling across broad swaths of the USA and several foreign countries.
Boots was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bert Ames; and her younger brothers, Robert and Doran Deckert. She is survived by her nieces and nephews, Clint Deckert, Wendy Zentek, Kelly Gawitt, Karen Jeffers, Steven Deckert and David Deckert; plus a number of grandnieces, grandnephews and her sisters-in-law, Jean Deckert and Alma Deckert.
Boots and Bert had a knack for establishing their residence in a series of beautiful places before these locations became well-known and overcrowded. They first lived in Santa Barbara, followed by Sedona, Arizona, and finally settled in Moab. Boots’ niece, Karen “KJ” Jeffers, has plans to move into Boots’ Moab home, where she hopes to carry Boots’ legacy forward into the future.
Boots leaves behind a broad community of friends in and around Moab. She will be greatly missed by all.
Donations may be made in her memory to the VFW, The Nature Conservancy, or a charity of your choice.
You may send condolences to the family at www.spanishvalleymortuary.com.
