Jewel Gay Morgan Creery

Our beautiful, vivacious mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, Jewel Gay (Morgan) Creery, age 88, passed away in Salem, Utah, on May 1, 2023.

She was born to Edward Leon and Eva Alvalda (Nance) Morgan on June 19, 1934, in Antonito, Colo. She was their fourth of six children.

Jewel was raised in Sanford, Colo., and was active with friends and family. She loved to sing and had a beautiful soprano voice. In high school, she enjoyed acting in the school plays, often playing the lead. And participating in the choir. She liked telling us that life was simpler then as high school girls still played with jacks.

After high school, she married Gerald (Jerry) Lee Creery — twice! The first time was on April 25, 1953. The couple went on a date and eloped to Toas, N.M. They roused the justice of the peace at midnight to perform the ceremony. Jerry slipped a cigar band on her finger and kissed his bride. When they returned, he delivered Jewel to her parents’ home, and he went home, too. Neither told their parents about the wedding. Two months later, on June 6, they married again in Jewel’s parents’ house. For their honeymoon, Dad took Mom on his favorite activity — fishing and camping — not Mom’s idea of fun or romance. She teased him about that their whole lives.

Mom worked at the Mountain Bell office in Alamosa as an operator. She always had the juiciest gossip as operators could listen into calls without being heard. When that office closed, she retired.

Jewel Gay’s happiest pastimes were designing and sewing beautiful dresses, gardening, and tending to her roses. Although she took years of tap-dancing lessons, she would never say she liked it. She loved to square dance. She hated heights and water but would watch her children swim from the top of the roof of the old Splashland. She couldn’t swim but made sure her children could. Mom was a reader, enjoying magazines, scriptures, and non-fiction books the most. She read novels as well, with a preference for westerns.

Jewel was a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She loved the Lord and served Him in many capacities through her life. She especially loved the church bazaar and spent long hours creating items to sell. She was an accomplished seamstress and painted the flowers she loved. For many years she wrote, directed, and sewed the costumes for church roadshows, combining many of her talents all together.

Mom didn’t take life too seriously. If some problem wasn’t a big deal, you might just hear her say “Oh pooh” and go about her business. If she thought something was crazy or a little dumb, her favorite phrase was “hells bells.” If she caught herself doing something silly, she would stick out her tongue and giggle, her long dimples punctuating her smile. Mom was a hard-worker, fun, and feisty. Though in our hearts, she will be missed.

The couple had five children, raising them in Alamosa. Donald Creery, Lidgea Creery, Edward Creery, Monti (Creery) Poulson, Canda (Creery) Mortensen. They also had 28 grandchildren, 82 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren.

Her husband preceded her to his heavenly home and awaits her there. With love and tender feelings, the family announces that the funeral services will be a graveside service at the Sanford Cemetery in Sanford, Colo., held Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 2:30 .pm. A celebration of life will be held Thursday, May 4, from 6-8 p.m. in Salem, Utah. A viewing will precede the funeral the day before on Friday, May 5, 2023, from 5-7 p.m. at Rogers Family Mortuary in Manassa.

To leave local online condolences, tributes and words of comfort for Jewel’s family, please visit www.RogersFunerals.com.