Margaret Cox Seely slipped peacefully into her eternal rest the morning of Feb. 12, 2004, in her home in Craig. She was 87.
Margaret was born Feb. 20, 1916, in Orangeville, Emery County, Utah, to John Bernard and Elizabeth Clinty Jewkes Cox. Those days you were a Hawks, a Cox, a Fox, or a Peacock.
She grew up and attended school in Orangeville. Upon high school graduation, she attended Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, for two years, earning an Associate in Education degree in May of 1936. Shortly thereafter, she returned to Orangeville to teach kindergarten for one winter. All children loved her and she was a natural teacher to all.
On Nov. 25, 1937, Margaret married Hugh Seely at her mother's home in Orangeville on Thanksgiving Day. Like all newlyweds in the early days of this country they had very little and many times survived on what they could grow or can. Margaret was the butcher as well as the baker and her homemade bread was a testament to that.
It was during this time that she started a dime jar she took each week to the bank. Many today would admire her management skills and had it not been for her wise council and tight purse strings, the Seely men may have spent far more on good horse flesh than they did.
In 1948, the Seely family moved to Craig from Vernal, when they acquired the ranch on the Williams Fork. Margaret had three children, Bruce, Kathleen, and Patricia. On July 22, 1952, they were married in the Manti Temple, and to them, their children were sealed.
Tragedy struck the Seely family on Aug. 7, 1961, when a horse accident claimed the life of her beloved daughter, Patricia. The accident happened as she watched from the porch of the Godlove cabin on the Seely Ranch and that single event would be a meridian of time for her entire life. Not too many years ago, the cabin that stood over a hundred years was reduced to a pile of nails by a bolt of lightning sent from heaven. Now, she and Patricia can stand out on that porch and look over the valley and enjoy it once again.
Margaret's life held much in that little dash between 1916 and 2004. Like the hearty pioneer stock she came from, she was a master homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.
As an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, she held callings in the Primary, MIA and Relief Society.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Mostyn, and a daughter, Patricia.
Margaret is survived by her husband, Hugh Seely; a son, Bruce, and his wife Ann; a daughter, Kathleen Brennise and her husband, Loyle; grandchildren Mike Seely and his wife Nancy, Melinda Seely Baessler, Crayton Seely and his wife Wendy, and Anita Seely Duke and her husband Craig, Keith Brennise, Scott Brennise and his wife Sheila, and Stacie Towler and her husband Doug; great-grandchildren Ryder, Pryce, Walker and Jace Seely, Spencer, Erynn and Jared Duke, Jordan, Logan, Kasen and Kinlie Brennise, and Jalin and Tiaree Towler; sisters Donna (Lavar) Sitterud, Elizabeth (Wells) Wakefield; and brothers Kenneth Cox and Blaine (Joyce) Cox.
Services were held at the LDS Church on Feb. 17, 2004. Bruce Seely gave the family prayer and Blaine Cox gave the opening prayer. Myrna Ence played the organ while Lorie Romney sang, and the great-grandchildren sang "I Am a Child of God." Dr. Tom Told gave the eulogy with Bishop Wells Wakefield speaking. Scott Brennise read a poem written by Donna Sitterud.
Interment took place at the Craig Cemetery with dedication given by Kenneth Cox. Pallbearers were Scott Brennise, Keith Brennise, Mike Seely, Crayton Seely, Doug Towler, and Craig Duke. Honorary pallbearers were all of Margaret's Many Friends.
Published in the Craig Daily Press (Craig, CO) on February 26, 2004
[Margaret is wife of great-grandson of Justus Wellington SGS# 2337 – Samuel Hugh; David Randolph; Orange; Justus Wellington(# 2337); Justus Azel (#836); Justus William; Joseph; John; Benjamin; Nathaniel, Robert]
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