Sally Crain-Jager

Funeral services for Sally Lucile Bonham Crain-Jager age 76 of Cookeville, will be held Saturday November 29th at 1p.m at the First United Methodist Church in Cookeville, Tennessee, with the Reverends Martin Thielen, Whitney Mitchell and Susan Lupo officiating. It is requested by Sally's husband, Robert that mourners attending her funeral service at First United Methodist Church assist in the celebration of her life in art by wearing brightly colored scarves (women) and brightly colored ties (men). Interment will follow at Crest Lawn Cemetery in Cookeville. Visitation will be held at the Hooper Huddleston Funeral Home Friday from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. and again Saturday from 12 p.m. until service time at the church. Sally was born to Mabel Lucile Rodgers Bonham and George Raymond Bonham on October 7, 1938, in Enid, Oklahoma, and passed away Saturday morning November 22, 2014 at her residence. She attended elementary and secondary schools in Enid, Oklahoma, and graduated in 1956 from Enid High School, where she was active in band and orchestra as a flutist. Her interest in fine arts resulted in her pursuit of painting, and she received her Bachelor in Fine Art Degree from Phillips University in 1960. She was married to Robert Crain in 1960, then moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where she worked for two years as a commercial artist. After moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1962, she began her career as an art teacher, continuing her activities as a painter. She taught at Brainerd High School, Cadek Conservatory, and Lookout Mountain Elementary School, then became the first educational television teacher to teach art throughout Hamilton County schools, as well as serving as Coordinator of the art programs in the elementary schools there. When she and her family moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, in 1967, she became an active part of the art community and a member of the art faculty of Tennessee Tech University. During the years at Tennessee Tech, she was a devoted contributor to the development of the art programs at the university, and was active in supporting and developing the arts in Cookeville, among which was the leadership as President of the Cookeville Arts Council, participation in Cookeville Summer Theater as set designer, and as a contributor to the Clara Cox Epperson Library. During her career as an artist/teacher at Tennessee Tech from 1967 – 2001, she was instrumental in developing the first Art Education degree, and produced 30 educational television programs for children in middle schools, which was sponsored by a national distribution agency and carried throughout the United States in as many as 25 states. She was also instrumental in developing the first Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting. She served on many committees through the years, was Chair of the University Art Committee for a number of terms, and was actively involved in the development of programs at the Appalachian Center for Crafts as Interim Director and Academic Advisor. She was responsible for the dedication of the university art gallery as the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery and the development of the gallery's programs for the university and the Cookeville community. She was the major advisor and Program Coordinator to both Art Education and Painting majors, and was instrumental in the development of the art curriculum and the addition of her teaching positions as these programs grew. Throughout her teaching career she was a prolific painter, exhibiting locally, regionally and nationally. After retiring, she and her husband Robert Jager moved to the Southwest, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for several years. Returning to Cookeville in 2011, Sally taught at Nashville State Community College, was instrumental in the beginning of the "Art for Healing" collection of art works in the Cookeville Regional Medical Center and, as a result, was awarded the first "Cookeville Regional Charitable Foundation Outstanding Partner" award. She also served as President of the Friends of the Appalachian Center for Crafts. Sally was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She often said she was blessed by having wonderful children and amazing grandchildren, referring to them as "genetic miracles"! She and her husband, composer Robert Jager, shared a special relationship as a devoted couple with common interests in their creative careers. Sally is survived by her husband, Robert Jager, whom she married in 1992; her son Barry Dewynne Crain and daughter-in-law Holly Blessen and grandsons Harrison and Donovan and granddaughter Veronica of Chicago, Illinois; daughter Brooke Crain Martin and son-in-law Chris Martin and grandsons Christopher and Matthew of Humble, Texas; and a sister Janice Bonham Munkres and brother-in-law Verle Munkres. She was preceded in death by her parents and her beloved sister, Patricia Crager. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Sally Crain-Jager Memorial Art Scholarship in c/o TTU Foundation, TTU Box 5111, Cookeville, TN 38505.