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Jane Elizabeth Long Leupold, 46, entered eternal life to be with her Lord Jesus Christ on January 14, 2011.

Jane Elizabeth Long was born in Norfolk, Nebraska, on August 9, 1964, and immediately was placed in the arms of her mother and father, Lowell and Phyllis Long, who loved her and nurtured her all the years of her life. After graduating from Norfolk High School in 1982, and earning a two year degree in architecture at Northeast Community College in Norfolk in 1984, Jane moved to New Mexico, settled in Las Cruces, graduating from New Mexico State University in 1988 with a degree in marketing. She used her marketing degree as an advertising executive with Las Cruces TV Cable for the next five years.

On March 25, 1989, Jane married Keith Leupold, and they had almost 22 years of joyous married life. She made the decision early in her marriage to make her immediate family's ambitions her own, so quitting her job, she plunged into raising her three children, Zachariah Alan, born in 1994, Brita Noel, born in 1996, and Nathan Courin, born in 2001. Her days were filled with volunteering at Tombaugh Elementary, serving in many capacities at Bethel Bible Fellowship, and nurturing relationships with her husband's Las Cruces High School Bulldawg volleyball players. She loved teaching Vacation Bible School, giving spelling tests for Nate at Tombaugh, joining with Brita to create delightful desserts, watching Zach wrestle, and being the life of the party wherever she went.
Stricken with breast cancer in the summer of 2008, and placed in the public's eye during her courageous battle, she exuded love and determination as she waged her war against a relentless foe. In 2010, sensing that she might not win the battle, she gathered up her husband and her kids and flew off to Paris and London to make memories.

Jane is survived by her husband Keith, sons Zach and Nathan and daughter Brita. She is survived by her mother and father, Lowell and Phyllis Long of Las Cruces, and by a sister, Kathy Long Hegler, and her husband Bob, from Cortland, Nebraska. Jane is also survived by her nieces Sarah Loring de Garcia and husband Roberto, of Monterrey, Mexico, Michelle Frey Cochell and husband Matt of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Ana Balka and husband Steven Ypma of London, England. She is also survived by nephew Scott Loring and wife Heidi of Russellville, Missouri. Jane is preceded in death by her sister Patricia Long Loring.

A celebration of Jane Leupold's life will be held at First Assembly Church at 3:30 Wednesday, January 19th. Attendees are asked to wear red or blue, in honor of Janie's LCHS Bulldawgs, pink in honor of her struggle with breast cancer, or any other bright and joyous colors to help celebrate a life cut short, but a life well-lived.

For those wishing to honor Jane's memory, the family requests that donations be made in Jane's name to Cowboys for Cancer Research, or to an education fund for the Leupold children. That fund has been set up in care of Bethel Bible Fellowship, and checks can be made out to Bethel Bible Fellowship, designated for the Leupold education fund, and mailed to BBF, 3890 Stern Drive, Las Cruces, NM 88001.

As Janie went through treatment, she claimed Job 23:10 as her special Bible verse: "For he knows the way that I take, and when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold". Armed with this verse, she marched into Mayo Clinics in Rochester and Phoenix and the Southwest New Mexico Cancer Center in Las Cruces, and as she went through tests and procedures, handed out chocolate to everybody she encountered. She said "Everyone can use a little chocolate".