Lana Thaemert

On the night of July 14, 2025, Lana Lee Lammers departed this life following an ongoing illness, surrounded by loving family members.

On April 11, 1951, Lana was born to Harold and Pauline (Davis) Lammers in Denver, Colorado. She was later joined by her brother, Terry, and two sisters, Cheryl (Cherie) and Wendy. Lana spent most of her early childhood in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, where everyone on the block knew one another and most mothers were at home leaving children free and safe to enjoy one another’s homes, run through sprinklers, play ball, share popsicles and cookies, and visit the local Book Mobile (a mobile library in a bus).

Lana attended Smedley Elementary School until the family moved to Arvada, Colorado in 1961, where she entered Fremont Elementary along with her brother Terry, then Drake Jr. High School. She attended Arvada West High School, graduating in 1969. Her siblings recall when Arvada West was built in 1963, and when their neighborhood was surrounded by country fields and farmland!

Lana enjoyed playing the piano from a very early age, and she continued to play into adulthood, at which point she took up the guitar briefly. She learned to crochet from her grandmother and mother, and learned to knit, as well. Many family members and friends were recipients of her beautiful afghans and baby items. She took up cross stitch later in life, and each niece and nephew received a cross stitch commemorating their birth. Her sisters still have cross stitch gifts from her, and her great niece has a beautiful cross stitch unicorn landscape.

In the Fall of 1969, Lana entered the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado as part of the largest female cohort at the time. The first female housing had just opened the year before. She entered the chemical engineering program as one of twelve girls in the entire class. There were only 8 female graduates of the school between 1961-1969, demonstrating the pioneering spirit of the women attending at the time. In May of 2018, Lana’s niece, Allie, with whom she had a special bond, graduated from the School of Mines, sharing Lana’s love of science and math.

Lana met her first husband, Lloyd ‘Skip’ Johnson on the Mines’ rifle range. He recalled thinking, “I could look at that pretty face for a lifetime”. They were married in January of 1970, and welcomed a son, Jason, in the Summer of that year. Lana stayed home to raise Jason while her husband completed his education and military obligations. She worked for her father’s tax business for some additional income and later worked in the financial department at the City of Arvada. Lana and Skip settled in Arvada, where Skip eventually went to work as a Chemical Engineer. They parted ways when Jason was a toddler and Lana attended Red Rocks Community College from 1978 to 1980, earning an associate’s degree in law enforcement.

In 1977, Lana went to work for the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department in detentions while she worked toward her POST certification as a law enforcement officer, which she completed in 1980. Lana went to work as a street officer at the Wheat Ridge Police Department in 1980 and was among the first 5 female officers in the department, again, pioneering the way for future women entering the field. WRPD featured her and another female officer in a 2023 Women’s History video commemorating the first women to join the WRPD as police officers. She faced many challenges as a female officer in the 1980’s and was recognized for bravery in a shooting incident where she was able to protect some citizens present and safely control the situation.

While an officer with WRPD in 1983, Lana was the arresting officer in a high-profile murder case and went on to testify in two trials of the perpetrator, who remains incarcerated to date.

Lana retired from the Wheat Ridge Police Department in 1989, and shortly after, married Bill Thaemert, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Officer in the Fugitive Unit. Bill and Lana enjoyed sailing on Bill’s boat and traveled the country in their 5th wheel, meeting many people and renewing old friendships. Lana and Bill took up residence in the home Bill’s father had built in Lakewood, Colorado.

Lana stayed connected to the family by providing daycare for a niece and nephew as well as babysitting other nephews. They remember playing Donkey Kong, war, and police video games with her providing direction based on her law enforcement experience!

Lana re-entered the workforce in 2006, as the account manager for Mac-Vik Plumbing and Heating in Golden, where she worked until the Fall of 2017. Her husband Bill passed away in 2014, and Lana remained in their home enjoying the company of her faithful canine friend, Bandit, until he crossed the Rainbow Bridge in February 2017. She enjoyed watching NASCAR, sci-fi, and crime shows while continuing to read, knit, crochet, cross stitch, and enjoy neighbors, family, and friends. She stayed connected with many WRPD alumni via Facebook.

Lana is remembered as a caring friend and neighbor as well as a woman who sacrificed her engineering education to give her young family a solid beginning. She is remembered as a loving mother and big sister who was always there when she was needed. Even in her final days, she messaged family and friends to check in and offer a smile. Her decisive nature, her pioneering actions, her smile, her laugh (as well as her cinnamon rolls, cabbage bread, and pizzells at holiday time) will be missed.

When asked about losing loved ones, Paulo Coelho said in the book Aleph: “Never. We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us, they don’t disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms…”