Jessie Cramer, a pillar and friend of the Craig community, passed away early Saturday morning surrounded by her family. She was 48 years old.

For those who knew Jessie, she left a lasting and wonderful legacy on Craig and Moffat County, not only by nurturing and supporting individuals across the area but by working for the benefit of the entire community. She will be remembered for her kindness, compassion and love.

“She was light,” said Tom Cramer, Jessie’s husband for 20 years. “That’s all there is to it.”

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Jessie had been battling cancer since March 2021. Despite the diagnosis and the ensuing battle, she remained her bright and shining self throughout it, and she continued her work in the community while being a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. 

Jessie was born May 1, 1975, in Denver to Ivan and Wendy Wooden. She had two brothers, Taylor and David. David passed away last year.

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Jessie moved to Maybell in her early childhood and then attended middle and high school in Craig. She stayed in the area and eventually met Tom, who would become what Jessie called “the love of (her) life.”

The couple was married on Dec. 22, 2004. At the time, Tom was recovering from addiction, and he credits Jessie with helping him in the transition to recovery and for playing a key role in reuniting him with his children.

Both Jessie and Tom would go on to become role models in the Yampa Valley community within multiple recovery groups and the churches they attended. Additionally, Jessie started a Crossfit gym that focused primarily on training women.

“That was her heart,” Tom said. “It was her heart to help women get better.”

Through her work, Jessie was able to help women with their body image and served as a coach and support to many. “She was always cheering people on,” Tom added.

According to her family, Jessie operated a business where all of the profits were given back to the Craig community for a time. She also opened a business, Cramer Flooring, in partnership with her husband. As the business grew, so did Jessie’s deep ambition to continue to improve the lives of others and her community as a whole.

“Jessie has a deep well of compassion and knowledge,” Tom said. “She was really easy to talk to.”

He continued by saying that people would seek her out for her counsel, soothing manner and positive attitude.

She also became involved with her church, The Journey at First Baptist, as a middle school student. Following in her parents’ footsteps, she would later lead Celebrate Recovery, a group within the church that focuses on helping others overcome addictions and recover from past abuses.

Even though Jessie never used drugs herself, she sponsored and mentored many individuals and became involved in the leadership of the group COMA, a grassroots organization designed to help methamphetamine abusers discover better lives.

After her diagnosis, Jessie only accelerated her work and began seeking other conduits to support her family, friends and community. “She wanted to not waste her time,” Tom said.

A few months before she passed, Jessie began working with Catholic Outreach, where she served and delivered meals for those in need. Through this experience, she noticed that what was being delivered did not always meet the level of need, and so she would take it upon herself to leave needed items anonymously on porches and doorsteps.

She continued the practice until she was physically unable to due to the progression of her illness. Her nature of giving to others also came with a humble and gentle disposition, and many of Jessie’s acts of generosity were done anonymously.

In fact, Tom said his wife got the greatest joy out of helping others while promoting the idea that individuals can help their communities “by being better for each other and to each other.” 

“She was so humble — she didn’t want any of the recognition,” Tom said. “If she saw someone’s life change, that was the acknowledgment. That was the reward for her.”

Additionally, those who knew Jessie said her personality had a natural gravitational pull to it, and anyone who came near her was instantly engaged with her kindness and outgoing nature. 

“She became a staple due to the fact that she never really met strangers and didn’t allow people to remain strangers if she did,” said Aaron Cramer, Jessie’s son. “She had a lightness and optimism that was infectious.”

“Jessie always wanted to spend time with people and ultimately have them walk away feeling like she cared and have them walking away feeling like they got something,” he continued. 

Jessie’s children, husband and friends all described her as the nucleus of the family. Prior to marrying Tom, she had a son, Shane Porter, in 1995 and a daughter, Mica Suckow, who was born in 1997. After her marriage to Tom, who had three children from a previous relationship — Amanda, Aaron and Madysen — the family grew even larger, and Jessie treated them as if they were her own.

The Cramer children all expressed a deep admiration for Jessie’s role in pulling the family together, especially following the stresses associated with Tom’s addiction and recovery process. 

“I definitely credit Jessie with saving our family,” Amanda said while pointing out that her dad’s trajectory would have made it impossible for the family to enjoy the love and bond it has now without Jessie’s love and dedication.

Amanda’s brother, Aaron, echoed the sentiment, saying that Jessie was a key factor in reestablishing his relationship with his dad. 

“Jessie deserves a lot of credit for the state of our lives and for the mending of many family lines and relationships,” Aaron said. “She was a pusher and she pushed people to choose each other and not give up.”

Tom added that it was Jessie’s goal to “mend and weave” his strained relationship with his children into a fabric of love, recovery and family unity. 

“Jessie would make me go and do family things even though sometimes I didn’t want to,” Tom recalled. “She always made it fun. Her family was truly the most important thing to her. Her family, my family, to her it was one.” 

“She was always trying to engage us as kids,” Aaron added. “I remember vividly that she really tried to create a deep family dynamic.”

Above all else, Jessie loved spending time with her grandchildren Grayden Shepard, Averie Suckow and Huntley Ila Suckow, who is expected to be delivered in February and shares a middle name with her grandmother. Jessie also loved and cared for her grandson Deakin Suckow before he passed away early in life. 

At about the same time Jessie was diagnosed with cancer, Deakin was diagnosed with heart failure. Despite the side effects of her treatments, Jessie was always able to travel with her daughter, Mica, to be there with Deakin when needed.

“That just shows how incredibly strong she was and how selfless she was,” Mica said.

Tom also said Jessie had a very deep and powerful relationship with grandson Grayden.

“Jessie just wanted to do everything she could with Grayden as often as she could,” Tom said.

Tony Bohrer, the pastor at the Lighthouse Church of Craig, said Jessie was an integral part of the community and in peoples’ lives on many levels. Bohrer was also impressed by the role Jessie and Tom played in supporting their recovery group, Seven, and the individuals in it.

“They, and particularly Jessie, have played a vital role in our group,” Bohrer said. “Jessie was honestly one of the most selfless people you will ever meet. She was always putting people in front of herself.”

According to Bohrer, Jessie was one of the few people who transcended “the words” of trying to help others and instead always found a way to prop others up — no matter what. 

“Some people say that’s what they want to be. Then there’s a whole different group that lives it. Jess was one of those sincere people,” Bohrer said. “There was nobody who was out of her reach. She was a great example for us.” 

Amanda St. Martin, a member of The Lighthouse Church, also became close friends with Jessie, who eventually became a mentor to St. Martin.

St. Martin remembers Jessie as always willing to be there for her friends when they were in need.

“Every interaction I had with Jessie was all about her integrating into someone’s life as an encourager, as someone who lifted others up,” St. Martin said. “She would always put aside her personal dilemmas or struggles just to be a friend and a light for you.”

“It didn’t matter where she was at,” St. Martin continued. “It was always about her lifting someone up and sharing this amazing light and this amazing sunny outlook on life with everyone she came into contact with.” 

According to St. Martin, Jessie had an innate ability to take her trials and difficulties in life and turn them into a learning and uplifting experience for others. To continue Jessie’s legacy, St. Martin said she intends to “use the void that she left in my life to fill with the light and joy that she brought to me.”

One of the reasons Jessie thrived in Craig is likely because she loved the outdoor lifestyle and living in the mountains. One of her goals with Tom was to own a cabin in the mountains — a dream that eventually came true through what Tom and Jessie both described as “a lot of work, planning and patience.”

Tom recalled that, early in their relationship, he wrote to Jessie that it was one of his life’s dreams to have a cabin in the mountains. Shortly thereafter, Tom got a letter in the mail with a beautiful drawing of a cabin in the mountains that Jessie had made. That was the beginning of their “cabin journey” together.

“I think it was seven years after we got married that we were able to buy a little piece of land and build the cabin that she designed,” Tom said. “It was her happy place. You could see her walk through the door and her spirit came alive.”

“It was an incremental growth towards that dream,” Aaron recalled of the cabin. “I think that is what I saw all the time with Jessie. She was always willing to enjoy the small wins towards the bigger goal.” 

It was through those cabins that Jessie met Bonnie Stewart, who is the publisher of the Craig Press and became a close friend of Jessie and the family. Stewart, who has come to know Tom and Jessie well, referred to them as “family.”

“I have never seen a greater love than the love that Tom and Jessie shared. Tom was Jessie’s world and so were their children,” Stewart said. “Jessie was just a beautiful soul and made everyone feel like they were special and loved.” 

Stewart described Tom and Jessie as “true pillars of the community” for their generosity and care.

“Jessie’s loss just leaves an unfillable hole in this community,” Stewart said. “She made other people around her want to be better because she was such a good person. … She simply wanted people to love each other, get along and be kind to each other. That was Jess in a nutshell.”

“She was active in every way,” Tom said as he recalled how Jessie enjoyed a vast array of outdoor sports, particularly when she was with her family at their cabin.

She loved snowmobiling, grouse hunting, mountain biking and hiking. She also liked to travel, particularly to Alaska and the Oregon coast.

Taught by her best friend Guy Whitlock, Jessie also operated a grooming machine for the Colorado Snowmobile Club for a time and was also a board member for that organization. Additionally, she served on the Wilderness Ranch board.

About three months ago, as her cancer progressed into advanced stages, Jessie began to journal. The starting passage reads, “More Jesus, Less Jess.”

“She wanted to spend every day doing something for somebody that was going to impact their life,” Tom explained. “Every person that ever had a one on one with her came back better.”

Throughout the course of her life, Jessie served as a spring of hope and joy to those who came in contact with her. Her giving nature, combined with an outgoing personality, created a soul that many people in this community will never forget.

A memorial service for Jessie will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at The Journey at First Baptist Church, 1150 W. Ninth St. in Craig. Those attending the service are encouraged to wear bright colors — Jessie’s favorite was orange — and to be in “bright spirits” if they are able.

The family asks that donations be made to SEVEN, a recovery group that is hosted by the Apostolic Lighthouse of Craig Church, at 970-841-9020; or Celebrate Recovery, which is hosted by The Journey at First Baptist in Craig, at 970-824-5926, or by making a donation to a local church or recovery program. 

Additionally, the family asks that those who knew Jessie submit testimonials to a virtual memory book in Jessie’s memory. The link for that memorial is Bit.ly/3vSUJ6b.