Cecilia House

Her early education began in Brooklyn until her family relocated to Denver, Colorado when she was 12 (she proclaimed NY was in her heart and soul until her death). She attended Cole Junior High School and then went on to graduate from Manual High School. Shortly after graduating, she met and married her husband of 51 years, Lemont House, who preceded her in death last year.

Later in life she went on to continue her education where she attended The Community College of Denver and the University of Denver where she majored in Art and obtained her degree in Business. Cecilia started her career with St. Luke’s hospital and then went on to become a Social Worker with the Head Start program. This is where she formed her lifelong friendships with her coworkers Sally, Josie and Loyce. Although not a coworker, added to that lifelong friendship was Verma aka “the second Mom”. Having worked with Head Start for 14 years, she made a career change and settled on working for Storage Technology (now Sun Micro Systems) in Boulder and Louisville, Colorado. Cecilia was medically retired after 15 years of service when she suffered her first stroke. Although she was not to make it through that stroke, Cecilia had the tenacity and resilience that she exhibited throughout her life. She was able to over time learn to walk, talk, eat and laugh once again. She also developed a passion for drawing as part of her rehabilitation and would duplicate anything you put before her as well as draw favorites of mountain landscapes, ocean scenes and trees. If you ever visited with her, she was proud to show off the many completed 100 page sketch pads! Many are blessed to have been given books of her drawings made especially for them. Another passion she had was movies and music! Boy did she love her movies! She has a movie collection so old, they don’t market the players any longer, but she would always tell you how good the movie is! This was her way of justifying watching it over and over and keeping it in her collection! Another great passion was her love of sweets! Tootsie pops, orange of course, Oreo’s and Wethers originals! There is not enough paper or time to share who Cecilia was. A small snapshot of her: she was a strong, loving, forthright, loyal woman of great character. Knowing her mind, she was most likely thinking, I can make it thru this latest struggle, I made it the first time, and I can do it again. She always said that during her first stroke, when she couldn’t communicate with anyone, that the Lord was with her. He was giving her strength and reassuring her that she was in his care. Our Lord felt it necessary to relieve her of all of her physical sufferings this time, knowing that she had fought so many battles that it was time to rest. Two months to the exact date and almost to the exact minute of her passing, she was able to step into a brand new home built from the ground up, just for her, after vacating her family home of 45 years, where she excitedly proclaimed to a friend after the first week, “finally I slept my a** off!” She was happier than we’ll all know. What an example of grace for us.

Cecilia is survived by her four daughters, Denise (James) Bradley-CO, Lisa House-CO, Gayle Smith-TX, Gwendolyn (Darryl) Smith-CO, 6 grandchildren – Shwanna (Quincy) Hines, Renea House, Monique McCloud-TX, Cleophus (Angel) House, Derek Hill, Desiree (Jermal) Love, 9 great grandchildren, brother Charles Morton-NY, sister Ann Bramwell-CO, niece Tiffany (Byron) Bramwell-Waters-TX, Aunt Cecelia-NY (whom she is named after with a different spelling), 2 cousins Richard and Michael Howard-NY, a host of in-laws, nieces and nephews.