Colette May will be remembered for her gentle kindness, unwavering Christian faith, love of family and friends, and special affinity for horses. At age 88, she left her earthly family to join Jesus and her heavenly family on June 6, 2026, in Woodstock, Georgia.

Colette, the second child of Vera (McCoy) and Mervin Bergsten, was born into a farming family in Madrid, Nebraska, on April 17, 1938. As a young girl, she and her brother, Cecil, grew up riding horses, milking cows, and tending to a menagerie of animals, not least among them a pet pig. The family moved from town to town in the Madrid and Imperial, Nebraska area until settling on a small ranch near Cope, Colorado in1950. Colette attended high school in Cope and, upon graduating, enrolled in Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado, where she earned a teaching certificate in 1957. Colette also attended Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley. Early in her career, she taught second graders in Eagle, Nebraska

In October 1958, Colette married Robert "Bob" May. They had two daughters: Roxanna, born in 1960, and Julianna, born in 1965. The Mays moved to Wray, Colorado, in 1965, and for the next two decades, Colette shared her love of horses and passion for learning with her girls while also continuing her teaching career both part time and full time.

In 1986 Colette moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to begin a new chapter of her life. That year, she launched New Horizons Equine Education Center, providing home studies courses to horse enthusiasts—the first in the industry.

Under Colette's foresight and direction, New Horizons also published the first Dictionary of Equine Terms, as well as other manuals and videos. Over the past four decades, thousands of students in the U.S. and abroad have enrolled in New Horizons' programs.

A little more than fifteen years later, Colette would pack up and move cross-country to Georgia, so she could be close to family. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren, Ryan and Brianna Durham. More recently, as her health failed, Colette had been splitting her time between Woodstock, Georgia, and Flat Rock, Alabama.

Colette's love of God, family, and horses carried her through life. She is preceded in death by her parents and leaves behind her brother, Cecil Bergsten, daughters Roxanna Litow and Julianna May Durham, and grandchildren Ryan and Brianna Durham. At her request, no services will be held. She will be buried in the same cemetery as her parents in Imperial, Nebraska.