Colleen Evelyn Hamilton, 74, of Sioux City passed away Sunday, November 7, 2021, at a local hospital. A celebration of life will be held from 11am -3pm Saturday, November 13, 2021 at the Sioux City Convention Center, Meeting Rooms 1 and 2. Waterbury Funeral Service is assisting the family with arrangements. An additional celebration will be held in Long Beach, CA on November 20th.

Colleen was born July 18, 1947, in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Lawrence and Betty (Rochester) Lafferty. She grew up in Leeds and graduated from Leeds High School in 1965.  Colleen moved to California a few years later.

Colleen married Jerry Hamilton December 24, 1968. Together they made their home in southern California in the town of Oxnard. She had worked in different jobs, from electronics to sporting goods, management to collections. Together they moved back to Sioux City in 2012 to enjoy retirement and Iowa friends and family.

She was very involved in her children’s lives.  She was always the room mother, bringing baked goods to class, working the hot lunch line, or organizing and driving to field trips. As they grew older, she became the team mom, showing up to all the girls' games and driving them to all the other high school life events.  Colleen enjoyed traveling with her husband to different vacation destinations. They had traveled to every state west of the Mississippi and some of the others to the east.

Colleen is survived by her husband, Jerry Hamilton of Sioux City; two daughters, Karen Hamilton (Mark Neamtu) of Long Beach, CA., and Denise Hamilton of Camarillo, CA; a sister, Wilma Curry of Riverside, CA., and two brothers, David Lafferty of Joplin, MO., and Brian Lafferty of Des Moines, IA; and four "adopted daughters," Heather Havens, Betina Castellon, Masako Yamamoto, and Ana Gutierrez.

She is preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Larry.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Shriners Hospital for Children as Colleen was a supporter of both.