Videos Login Subscribe Renew E-edition
logo
ePaper
coogle_play
app_store
  • News
  • Features
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Letters
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds
    • Place a Classified
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Legal Notices
    • Read Statewide Legal Notices
  • Archives
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
      • Columns
      • Letters
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Place a Classified
    • Advertise
    • Contact us
    • Legal Notices
      • Read Statewide Legal Notices
    • Archives
Gwen T. M. Serra
Gwen T. M. Serra
Obituaries
By News Staff, on February 3, 2022
Gwen T. M. Serra
  • Gwen T. M. Serra
  • 🞬
    ❮❯

    Gwendolyn Theresa Marie Serra passed away on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction after a long battle with Calciphylaxis and kidney disease. Gwen was born August 21, 1931 in Cripple Creek, Colorado to Richard and Lois Leber. Both of her parents came from hard rock mining families and Richard was a hard rock miner in most of the gold and silver mines around Colorado. He also helped build underground oil storage tanks at Pearl Harbor. Gwen grew up during the Great Depression era moving from the Victor/Cripple Creek area to the Silverton/ Ouray area before her family ultimately settled in Ouray, Colorado.

    Disney’s Snow White was released to theaters in 1937 when Gwen was 6 years old. It was the first full-length animated feature film and the first animated feature to be produced in Technicolor. Gwen was enamored with this film and became a lifelong collector of Snow White figurines.

    Gwen graduated from Ouray High School in 1948 and was the class valedictorian. After graduation, Gwen worked as a bookkeeper for Camp Bird Colorado Inc. located just south of Ouray. While employed at CBC Inc., she met fellow employee Mike Serra Jr. who became the love of her life. Mike and Gwen were married on August 25, 1951. They started what was to become a large family of seven children with the birth of their oldest child, Mike Serra III, in June 1952 followed by Michelle, Mark, Matt, Monique, Myrl and Mead.

    A few years after their marriage, Mike and Gwen moved from Ouray to Montrose where Mike became a successful building contractor. In 1956, they bought a house on Park Avenue in Montrose that was originally built in 1908. Mike renovated the home in 1964 to accommodate his growing family’s needs. Mike and Gwen lived in their home on Park Avenue until their deaths in 2006 and 2022, respectively.

    Gwen had an active work and social life throughout her nearly seventy years in Montrose. She was employed part time at Ray and Lois Ladage’s laundry business, and when her sister-in-law Alma Huntington and husband Jack purchased the Lazy IG Motel, (now the Country Lodge), in Montrose in 1978, Gwen helped by providing support for all aspects of that business. Gwen was also active in the Montrose Emblem Club and served in various officer positions ultimately as the president, during her lengthy Emblem Club membership. She baked countless chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for Emblem Club’s bake sales and served in any capacity needed

    Part time jobs, community service and club activities aside, Gwen was first and foremost a mother and homemaker who was focused on her husband and children. With seven gregarious children, she never knew which family friends might show up for dinner at the Serra household. Everyone was welcome and no one went away hungry. She very much enjoyed canning Palisade peaches and making wonderful jams which she made an annual event for herself and her grandchildren. Gwen spent hours and hours helping with homework and school projects. Gwen was very intelligent and encouraged her children to excel in school, study hard and to think outside the box. It was important to Gwen that her children live up to their fullest potential and they did. All seven of Gwen and Mike’s children are college graduates and successful professionals.

    Having grown up in Colorado with parents who were avid fly fishermen and big game hunters, Gwen loved the great outdoors. She relished going camping and fishing with her husband, children, and extended family. She was always available to help cut up and package a deer. She truly enjoyed eating trout and venison.

    Gwen was a creative artist who combined previously loved and typically discarded household items with natural materials into award winning craft art. She could literally make something out of nothing. The costumes she made for children won many prizes at the Emblem Club’s annual Halloween costume contest. None of those award-winning costumes were purchased, all were hand made. She also helped design and fabricate Emblem Club’s annual county fair booths. With Gwen’s artistic talents, Emblem Club won numerous blue ribbons for their booths. Gwen was an accomplished calligrapher, and her personal penmanship was beautiful. Even in her late years when her eyesight was poor, she wrote letters to her children and grandchildren with elegant, flourished handwriting. Lastly, Gwen enjoyed sewing and embroidery. She made embroidered quilts of her own design for her granddaughters as well as original design embroidered kitchen towels for her daughters and daughters-in-law. Her grandchildren received hand-made original design tactile learning books for toddlers. They were works of art. Due to living through the depression and WWII shortages, she has lovingly left 14,237 rubber bands to her children…

    Gwen was a sports fan. She much enjoyed watching her children play baseball and football. She was an active league bowler and supported and encouraged her entire family in that sport. She followed all types of professional sports and was particularly fond of the Denver Nuggets.

    Surviving family members include five sons and two daughters, i.e. Mike Serra III (Marie) of Centennial, CO; Michelle Serra (Brad Tompkins) of Overland Park, KS; Mark Serra (JeNaia) of Libby, MT; Matt Serra (Delila) of Durham, NC; Monique Serra (George Woolsey) of Fruita, CO; Myrl Serra of Grand Junction CO; and Mead Serra (Dixie) of Montrose, CO. 12 grandchildren; Michael, Ragen, Kiel, Tiffany, Geo, Landis, Gerad, Griffin, Niko, Giles, Dorian and Mario. 8 great grandchildren; Lydia, Meredith, Remington, Mia, Ava, George, Evelyn and James. Brother Richard Leber of Payson, UT; and Sister JoAn Tabor of Grand Junction, CO. Special nieces, Dona Capone and Cathy Hermanns (Montrose). Gwen was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, Mike Serra Jr., her parents Richard and Lois Leber, and her brother Ralph “Bud” Leber.

    Gwen will be interred in the Cedar Creek Cemetery on Friday, February 4, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. Arrangements are under the direction and care of Crippin Funeral Home, 802 E. Main St. Montrose, CO.

    In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Serra Family Education Fund established in 2001 for the benefit of Northside Elementary school in Montrose. Donations may be mailed in c/o Western Colorado Community Foundation, 225 North 5th Street, Suite #505, Grand Junction CO 81501

    Ridgway hotel to convert to housing
    Main, News...
    Ridgway hotel to convert to housing
    MTN Lodge owner: Change needed to sustain operations; town leaders worried
    By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
    September 10, 2025
    Ridgway’s largest hotel plans to convert to construction and hotel workforce housing for a new Four Seasons development in Mountain Village for at least the next four years. MTN Lodge signed an agreem...
    this is a test
    With federal funds in limbo, Ouray seeks options to reduce wildfire danger
    News
    With federal funds in limbo, Ouray seeks options to reduce wildfire danger
    By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
    September 10, 2025
    Ouray city leaders are exploring other ways to address dead, fallen trees littering neighborhoods and hillsides now that it's unclear when a large-scale, federally funded wildfire mitigation project w...
    this is a test
    News
    Interim police chief retained through Dec. 31
    By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
    September 10, 2025
    Ouray City Administrator Michelle Metteer has extended the contract of Interim Police Chief Daric Harvey through the end of the year. Harvey was hired as the interim chief in March, replacing Sgt. Gar...
    this is a test
    City to hear public input on wayfinding sign solutions
    News
    City to hear public input on wayfinding sign solutions
    By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
    September 10, 2025
    The Ouray City Council will hold a work session Monday to discuss possible solutions to concerns raised by residents and business owners about new wayfinding signs installed along Main Street earlier ...
    this is a test
    Letters, Opinion...
    LETTER TO THE EDITOR
    Article about Space to Create too negative
    September 10, 2025
    Dear Editor: The origin and theory behind the Space To Create movement is tied to the common phenomenon where creative individuals, looking for affordable and functional space, move into semi-industri...
    this is a test
    Letters, Opinion...
    When things go wrong, help is quick to arrive
    September 10, 2025
    Dear Editor: While I was taking a walk in Fellin Park a couple of weeks ago, I was bitten by an off-leash, unvaccinated dog. Sometimes unfortunate things do happen. The dog's owner was responsive to t...
    this is a test
    ePaper
    coogle_play
    app_store
    ePaper
    coogle_play
    app_store
    Editor Picks
    Letters, Opinion...
    Weiser for governor
    September 10, 2025
    Dear Editor: My wife and I support Attorney General Phil Weiser for governor of Colorado. He recently came to Ouray County to speak to citizens about his visions if he's elected governor. The affair w...
    this is a test
    Letters, Opinion...
    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Thanks, first responders
    Thanks, first responders
    September 10, 2025
    Dear Editor: My most sincere thanks to the Ouray Volunteer Fire Department, Ouray County EMS, the Ouray Police Department and all responders to the numerous calls you have been responding to this summ...
    this is a test
    Dam it: the story of Ridgway State Park
    Columns, Opinion...
    Dam it: the story of Ridgway State Park
    By Carolyn Snowbarger 
    September 10, 2025
    Our neighborhood reservoir, Ridgway State Park, has become a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. The park is a modern chapter in the long and rich history of the Uncompahgre Valley. It is a s...
    this is a test
    News
    News briefs
    Man cited for alleged theft, deed restrictions approved, Ouray enacts voluntary water restrictions, shuttle service in Ouray uncertain
    By Erin 
    September 10, 2025
    Man cited for alleged shoplifting at hardware store A Grand Junction man has been issued a citation for theft, after he allegedly stole two Dewalt batteries from the Ridgway True Value Hardware Store....
    this is a test
    Log Hill resident accused in child sex assault case
    News
    Log Hill resident accused in child sex assault case
    By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
    September 10, 2025
    Editor's note: This story includes details of alleged sexual assault. A Log Hill resident and alternative medicine practitioner has been accused of sexual assault on a child in a pattern of abuse, by ...
    this is a test
    Facebook

    Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

    First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines

    Ouray County Plaindealer
    Office address:

    195 S Lena St. Unit D
    Ridgway, Colorado 81432
    970-325-4412

    Mailing address:
    PO Box 529
    Ridgway CO 81432

    This site complies with ADA requirements

    © 2023 Ouray County Plaindealer

    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Accessibility Policy