Colleen Gay Gustafson

Colleen Gay Gustafson, our loving aunt and grand-aunt, age 87, passed away on December 29, 2024, in Murray, Utah of natural causes. She was born January 17, 1937, at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah to Selina Elizabeth Paget and Theodore Raynholt Gustafson.

She attended Whittier Elementary School, Madison Elementary School, Central Junior High School, and graduated from Granite High School in 1955. She went on to attend the University of Utah and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1959. Later, she attended Brigham Young University and graduated in 1970 with a Master of Science in Elementary Education.

She taught third grade at Sumner Elementary School before being reassigned to Highland Park Elementary School where she taught second grade for four years. She then taught kindergarten at Crestview Elementary and David Gourley Elementary before transferring to Harry S Truman Elementary where she remained teaching until she retired in 1987.

She belonged to the Association of Childhood Education International (ACEI), Alpha Delta Kappa (ADK), Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG), and Friends of the Creche. She also started volunteering after she retired with Intermountain Healthcare at Cottonwood Hospital and then Intermountain Medical Center (IMC). She loved reading and traveling and participated in various bowling leagues for a good portion of her life. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in various callings and leadership positions throughout her life. While she never had the opportunity to have children of her own, she loved her nieces, nephew, grandnieces and grandnephews as if they were her own and supported them in everything that they did.

She is survived by two nieces and one nephew, Jody Rae Gustafson Robinson, Jeff Lynn (Kristine Pettey) Gustafson, and Jana Marie Gustafson; seven grand nieces and nephews, Melinda Robinson, Neal Robinson, Eric Bentley, Brittany (Adam) Llewellyn, Amber (Abel) Davalos, Gavin Gustafson, and Zackary Gustafson. She is preceded in death by her parents, brother Philip Ray Gustafson, and sister-in-law Lucille Elizabeth Smith Gustafson.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, January 9 at 10:00 AM at the Union Ward Building/Sandy Utah Midvalley Stake Center, 1106 East 8050 South (Old Dairy Road), Sandy, UT. A viewing will be held at Cannon Mortuary, 2460 East Bengal Blvd. (7600 South) on Wednesday, January 8 from 6:00-8:00 PM and the day of the service one-hour prior. Interment at Larkin Sunset Gardens, Sandy, UT. For those unable to attend the service in person, the family invites you to join via Zoom, at

https://zoom.us/j/94517746771?pwd=pA5kjrzHRcq9fpd6BXXVhAAFYdFXLa.1

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Primary Children’s Hospital in memory of Colleen. 

https://give.primarychildrenshospital.org/give/395838/?c_src=pchomepage&c_src2=pchomepage&_gl=1#!/donation/checkout