Carolyn Louise Harris Cragun<\/strong><\/p>

1932 ~ 2023<\/strong><\/p>

Carolyn Louise Harris Cragun, 91, of Cedar Hills, Utah, went home to her Heavenly Father on October 7, 2023. Carolyn died in American Fork after health setbacks from a heart attack in June, and in her advanced age, was unable to fully recover.<\/p>

Carolyn was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada on April 1, 1932, the daughter of Ormonde Butler Harris and Doris May Thompson. She and her brother, Richard, moved with their parents during WWII in 1942 to Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and later to Paris, Ontario. She graduated from Paris District High School in 1950, earning a bursary to attend Hamilton Normal School where she was awarded a teacher’s certificate in 1951. She attended McMaster University extension classes, and later BYU, where she graduated with a BS in Childhood Education in 1954. She taught school in Dugway, UT, Grande Prairie, Alberta, and Brantford, Ontario. She later qualified to teach kindergarten in Ontario.<\/p>

After marriage in July 1957 to John Reuben Cragun of Pleasant View, Utah, she taught one year at Woodruff School in Logan, UT. Then she became Assistant Director for Women’s Housing at USU in 1958, consulting on the decorating of student halls there: Lund, Richards, Bowen and Merrill Hall.<\/p>

Carolyn and John had 6 children: Brian (Leanne), Crawford (Joyce), Sheryl, Margo (Calvin Gaisford), Janiel, and Ormonde (Heidi); 22 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. The children and posterity were her \u201cjewels\u201d and her joy, each so talented and each so unique.<\/p>

After 40 years in Cache Valley where John was on the faculty of USU, in 2007, Carolyn and John retired to Cedar Hills to be closer to grandchildren.<\/p>

She likened her life to a grand adventure. A convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with her parents when she was 18, she had a vibrant testimony of Joseph Smith’s call as a prophet, of the treasure in the Book of Mormon, and of living prophets. She and John were very involved over 60 years serving in North Logan, UT, Indianapolis and Lafayette, IN, St. Paul, MN, and Cedar Hills, UT — wherever they lived. They served in the Logan, Hong Kong, Nauvoo and Mt. Timpanogos temples. Carolyn felt her calling to play the organ in the temples was “the best job in the church.”<\/p>

Carolyn and John served missions in Southeast Asia (Humanitarian\/Welfare) and the Nauvoo Temple. She supported John in his calling as a Patriarch over 20 years, and she was a dedicated Visiting Teacher for over 60 years. Because of John’s many assignments, she was able to travel through the United States, to England and Europe, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand.<\/p>

Carolyn was a dedicated quilter, preferring scrap quilts, and she collected a vast collection of fabric to work with. She served as the Bear River Area Representative to the Utah Quilt Guild, taught classes in her home, and started quilt groups called Needles and Friends with Jeanne Myers, and Piece by Peace in North Logan. She was a member of the South Cache Guild. For some years she worked with the Festival of the American West, sponsored by USU each summer, directing the annual Quilt Show. She started classes to accompany the exhibit, bringing many national teachers to Logan.<\/p>

Women\u2019s issues were always close to her heart. She served on the Women\u2019s Center Board and was instrumental in co-chairing Hands Across the Valley, a conference which tried to unite diverse groups in Cache Valley who had religious, educational, marital or historical differences. In 1985 she ran for North Logan City Council as the first female to serve on that body. In 2005 she was named by the Women\u2019s Center as a contributor over 65 to women\u2019s progress. She led the Faculty League, which welcomed spouses of newcomers.<\/p>

She loved teaching and playing the organ. She especially loved gospel music.\u00a0 She was a voracious reader. She was an ardent genealogist. She looked forward to meeting the ancestors she had researched, many of whom she felt an intimate relationship with. She wrote and published life histories of her mother and father, and a volume about John\u2019s 26 pioneer ancestors. She qualified as a member of the DAR, a charter member of the Bear River chapter. She was very proud of her loyalist ancestors as well, qualifying for the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) membership. Though she had no pioneer ancestry, she learned about John\u2019s family and was a regular associate member of DUP.<\/p>

She will be missed by those whose lives she touched.<\/p>

She is survived by husband John R. Cragun; children Brian (Leanne), Crawford (Joyce), Sheryl Cragun Dame, Margo Gaisford (Calvin), Janiel, and Ormonde (Heidi); grandchildren Eric, Matthew, Nathan, Christian, Catherine (Cooper), Rachel (Gainer), Blakely, Ashlee, Aaron, Brooklyn, Bayleigh, Addison (Eberhard), Madeleine Dame, Logan Dame, Archer Dame, Merrit Dame, Talmage Gaisford, Tanner Gaisford, Harley, Montana, Eden, and Rhees; as well as 24 loving great-grandchildren.<\/p>

She is preceded in death by her brother Richard Harris and great-grandchildren Daphne Gainer and Owen Cragun.<\/p>

Funeral services for Carolyn will be held on Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 11:00 am in the Cedar Hills 10^{th<\/sup> Ward Chapel, located at 9737 North Chesterfield Drive, Cedar Hills, UT 84062. Family and friends are invited to attend a visitation on Friday evening from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Cedar Hills 10th<\/sup> Ward Chapel and also at an additional viewing on Saturday morning from 9:30-10:30 am prior to services at the church. Interment will follow at 4:00 pm at Ben Lomond Cemetery, 526 East 2850 North, North Ogden, UT 84414.<\/p>}

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