Gertrud A. Creegan, 84
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Gertrud Anna Creegan, 84, of Apache Drive died peacefully on Sunday, April 3, 2011, at home after a brief battle with cancer.
Born in Adelebsen, Germany, on Aug. 10, 1926, daughter of Wilhelm Weber and Bertha Schmidt, she lost both her parents, a brother and a sister by age 13 and lived with an aunt until she was 18. During the final battles of World War II, she and her aunt had to flee the approaching Soviet army. She spent a brief time in West Berlin until gaining freedom in Hanover, West Germany.
While on Easter holiday in Berlin, she met Harry F. Creegan, a traveling businessman for Hunter Machine Co. They married in Germany in 1963 and she began a new life in the United States as a wonderful wife, stepmother, and stepgrandmother to Harry's two children and grandchildren from his first marriage.
Along with being an incredible homemaker, Mrs. Creegan worked for Visiting Nurse Association as a home health aide from 1980 to 1993 in North Adams. She was a longtime volunteer for the Berkshire Food Project.
She also belonged to the Stamford (Vt.) Senior Citizens, and the Chorale Club and Church Mice at First Congregational Church in North Adams. She showed her love for children while running the church nursery for 17 years. Her many hobbies included golf, gardening, and feeding neighborhood birds. She was also an excellent cook and enjoyed baking for friends and family alike. For the past six years, she had been an active member of Congregational Church in Adams and was truly an inspiration to all who knew her.
Mrs. Creegan leaves three cousins in Germany: Annemarie Walter, Christa Selboski, and Eckard Schultz;five stepgrandchildren, Robert Creegan and his wife, Barbara, of Basking Ridge, N.J., Michael Creegan and his wife, Sophie, of Fryeburg, Maine, Trish Sammon and her husband, Shawn, of Jacksonville, Fla., Robert Green of Morton, Pa., Daniel Green and his wife, Margery, of Phoenixville, Pa.; nine stepgreat-grandchildren, Caitlyn Creegan, Alyssa Creegan, Michael Creegan, Sophie Marie Creegan, Grant Sammon, Trevor Sammon, Ellie Green, Abigail Green, and Harry Green; a stepnephew, Richard Reed and his wife, Joanne, of North Adams, and stepgrandnephews James and Brian Reed.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A graveside ceremony for Mrs. Creegan will be held on Saturday, April 30, at 11 a.m. at Southview Cemetery in North Adams. All donations may be made to First Congregational Church of Adams in care of Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, Central Chapels, 74 Marshall St., North Adams, MA 01247.