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