Bonnie-Annie “Laurie” Creasey passed peacefully from this world June 1 2020. Laurie was born in Trona, California January 28 1929, the youngest of three daughters, by 8 years, to Charles and Olga Hogane. She was naturally, a little princess in her family. As a child of the depression and all it’s instability, Laurie found her own strength and stability in her family. To her, family was everything. She attended schools in Long Beach California where she was an excellent student, held prefect deportment records, and excelled in English, drama and dance. After high school she continued in preforming arts, acting in local theatre and dancing for a brief period with a professional Hollywood dance troupe. Her knees would never fully forgive her.
In 1948, she married Walter O. Creasey, the handsome older brother of her best friend Jeane. Devoted to each other, Walter and Laurie shared a life together for over 71 years. In the final analysis, they had many more blessings than sorrows and most importantly, retained their sense of humor. Walter passed in January 2020. Some of their early adventures included airstream trailer living while attending college in San Luis Obispo and ranch life in rural Arizona, where Laurie remembers delivering her babies in a no-frills, one room hospital with only a sheet hung across the room for privacy. She ruefully recalled the endless hours of processing laundry before washers or dryers and the duty to iron even baby clothes. The couple later moved to Naples, Long Beach where she chose a “family friendly” career of school librarian, working at Rogers Jr.High School and Willard Elementary School. The role she was most proud of playing was “mother to two sons”, both whom she believed to be nearly perfect. The only thing that would have improved them, in her eyes, might have been their acquiescence to her dance instructions. Dance lessons however would never be among the many ways her sons indulged her. Laurie was also devoted to her sisters and parents, and would regularly remind her own sons that she, unlike them, “called my parents every-single-day-of- her adult life, at least when they were alive.”
Upon taking early retirements, Laurie and Walter relocated to Nevada City CA. in order to better share the lives of their children and grandchildren who had plans to settle here. They quickly created a welcoming home with amenities like a swimming pool, Disney movies, ample toys, and secret candy stashes; all to entice regular visits from all their grandkids. It worked. Her grandchildren adored her and even, occasionally, listened to her advice. No lightweight when it came to her book selections, Laurie favored dense and serious genres, which she quickly devoured. She could always be counted on for good book recommendation especially if one didn’t insist on a happy ending. Through the years, she donated countless print and audio volumes to the Nevada County Library, in part to make room for yet more books. An intellect at her core- but lacking opportunities, the family could only guess at what Laurie’s life might have looked like if she were born into another time, when women enjoyed broader options.
She will be lovingly remembered for her devotion and fierce loyalty to her relatives. The pride she felt in her 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren is thought to be unrivaled by any other grandparent worldwide. She will also be remembered for her love of butter, insistence on no other chicken meat aside from breast portions, extreme anxiety while driving on narrow mountain roads, her belief in the higher power of antibiotics and the need to avoid “overdoing it” or “catching a chill”. To honor Laurie’s memory, she would appreciate you getting a good nights sleep, wearing a sweater, washing your hands often, driving under the speed limit, never allowing flies into the house, and calling your parents regularly. In Laurie’s own words “For God’s sake, don’t over do it!”
Laurie was preceded in death by her husband Walter and two sisters, Jeanette Kelsey and Lorraine Kelley. She is survived by her sons W. Corey Creasey ( Martha) and C. Craig Creasey ( Jean), grandchildren, Corey, Mary, Ryan, Kyle, and Annie and great grandchildren, Miya, John and Niko, nieces Bonette Cooper and Martha Kelsey (both of Alaska) and Sandra Hensley and nephew Brian Brown. Rest in peace, Grandma Laurie, you were born a princess, but passed as a queen in our hearts.
