Jean Cornelia Creemers

Jean Cornelia Rust Creemers died on November 3, 2022 after a life spent taking care of others and persevering through many setbacks. During her 90 years Jean survived World War II, immigrated to the United States, became an American citizen, and stepped up to help whenever she saw a need. She also learned to walk and talk again after a major stroke more than twelve years ago. She thanked God before every meal and at the end of each day.

If Jean told the story of her life, she would describe being born in the Netherlands eight years before the start of World War II. Much like today’s Ukrainian children, she recalled buildings on her street destroyed by bombs, and being forced to leave home to stay in a safer location for several years.

Fluent in Dutch, English, French and German, she enjoyed working as an international telephone operator after graduating from high school. But she and her sister Elizabeth left their home in Rotterdam for love. In 1956 they joined two brothers, Fred and Edward Creemers, in Detroit, Michigan, where they were sponsored by an older sister who had married an American soldier.

The story of two Dutch brothers marrying two Dutch sisters was featured in a local newspaper. Afterwards she and Fred, whom she called Frits, welcomed two daughters and a son between 1958 and 1964. In those baby boom years Jean stayed home as a full-time mom, doing everything from teaching parish religion classes to being a den mother for her son’s cub scout troop.

In 1983, with their children grown and moving out of state for work, Jean and Frits traded snow shovels for palm trees in Florida. But instead of going to the beach Jean went to college, graduating from the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in gerontology in 1987. She was a social worker for several years, but quit work in 1995 to help her daughter’s young family when one of her grandchildren was seriously injured. She also spent 12 years caring for the sister-in-law who had helped sponsor their immigration.

In 2010, just months after her sister-in-law had died, Jean suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke. That’s when she started proving the doctors wrong: She did not die within a few days, she was able to pass a swallow study to get a stomach tube removed within a couple of months, and she walked out of a rehab hospital four months later.

The stroke took out Jean’s right side, leaving her with no feeling from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. It’s not easy to walk when you can’t feel your foot and your right hand keeps slipping off the walker. It’s especially difficult to continue to push forward when your husband of 55 years dies eighteen months later.

But Jean lived for almost 11 more years, moving to Brookdale North Raleigh in 2012. At first she lived on a floor that offered more assistance, but after a couple of years she moved to a studio apartment at the end of a long hall on the first floor. From there she walked to the dining room for meals twice a day, and to activities in the lobby.

Eventually Jean got a power wheelchair and zipped to the dining room in a quarter of the time! But after she broke her pelvis in late 2019 she needed too much help to stay at Brookdale. A house for rent three doors from her daughter became available in January of 2020, just a couple of months before the pandemic shut down the world. Jean used her wheelchair to drive around her new neighborhood, even after she broke a hip and came home with hospice this summer.

Jean leaves three children, Debbie Creemers (Tim Simmons) of Raleigh, Robert Creemers (Jenny) of Tampa, FL, and Shawn Vanderworp (Raymond) of Spring, TX. She is the proud Oma of eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She also is survived by a sister, Conny Vandenberg-Rust of Groningen, and a brother, Niek Rust, also of the Netherlands, as well as many nieces and nephews in Michigan and the Netherlands. She was preceded in death by her sister Elizabeth.

Her sister Con visited Jean in early October, and they spent a week reminiscing and looking at 70 and 80-year-old pictures. It was the perfect send off.

A funeral mass celebrating Jean’s life will take place at 1 p.m. January 13, 2023 at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, 5801 Falls of Neuse Road. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Catholic Parish Outreach Food Pantry, 2013 Raleigh Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27604, or by using the link below, under 'donations'.

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