Colleen Morelli was born to Henry and Marielle Morelli in American Fork, Utah on April 30th, 1946. She joined her big brothers, Dennis and Jerry, and was later a big sister to her brother, Robert. From a very young age, Colleen was a precocious little girl,

and earned the nickname "Princess" while happily tormenting her brothers every chance she got, her father always taking her side. Her charismatic personality carried into high school, where she thrived on the dramatic stage, an interest that she would carry with her well into her 70's.

After graduating from American Fork High School in 1964, she headed to the University of Utah, were she earned a scholarship in Journalism. Her college career was short-lived when a tall, handsome 17-year-old boy entered a University of Utah party

gracefully balancing a case of beer on one shoulder. Colleen was immediately smitten, and left her date in the dust to introduce herself to Mike Thornton.

Their courtship was a whirlwind, resulting in a 1967 elopement to Elko, Nevada. She was 20. He was 19. Their lives had just begun. Colleen hopped on a bus from Salt Lake City to Key West Florida, lugging a steamer trunk that carried all of their worldly possessions, to join Mike as he attended submarine school. Among their best memories from that time was escaping their ramshackle apartment to a tavern a half a block away; they purchased one beer and sipped on it for an hour and a half beneath a blessed swamp cooler that offered a respite from the oppressive Florida heat.

In 1968, pregnant with her first daughter, Jennifer, Colleen flew back to Salt Lake on a DC3, where she gave birth, all the while grasping the hand of Mike's dad, Dean. With her baby girl in her arms, Colleen joined Mike at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in

Virginia, where they stayed for one year, before heading back to Salt Lake, and then to Seattle where their second daughter, JoDean, was born in 1972.

Two years in Seattle sped by, and her family of four found themselves in the small town of Rigby, Idaho, where Colleen honed the fine art of announcing for local rodeos, while Mike team-roped, Jennifer barrel raced, and JoDean played in the dirt. She was at home around a campfire, and bundled up in a horse-driven sleigh in the wintertime. She was known to jump, without hesitation, on an idling snowmobile to race along the Snake River to the infamous Subway Club, a cowboy bar she and Mike

bought. She became an expert at wielding a shovel for chopping a hole in the river that ran through their backyard to provide a place for the horses to drink in the dead of winter. If it was an opportunity for fun, Colleen took it!

Nine years passed in Rigby, and their lives took them to Tri-Cities, Washington, where she gained two sons in law, three grand-children, and one great grandchild. Wherever Colleen went, and whatever she did, she left an impact on everyone

around her. Colleen was the personification of never letting a moment go to waste. She was up for anything, and there was very little she wouldn't try. Colleen lived a life of adventure, whether it was on the open road on her Harley named Eli, throwing a sleeping bag in the back of a horse trailer to sleep under the stars, or climbing the ropes and swabbing the decks in the middle of a tall ship race in the waters of the North Atlantic, despite her violent bouts of sea-sickness.

She lived a life of artistry on the stage of the Richland Players Theater, or using her skills to paint rounding boards and detail the horses at the Gesa Carousel of Dreams. She lived a life of activity, never passing up a round of golf, a game of bowling, a dance with her sweetheart, or a competitive game of touch football with Mike's navy buddies. Colleen lived a life of authenticity, seizing every opportunity to express herself, whether it be in the form of creating Busch Light beer tab mobiles or founding the "Nothing Like Homemade Jelly of the Month Club" birthday gift, committing herself to 12 months of assembling hilarious boxes of store-bought jelly and doughnut holes, all strategically labeled with clever puns, and then mailing them 250 miles away, all for the joy of making someone laugh.

Colleen will always be remembered as a "gamer," unbothered by doubt and wringing every drop from each day. But, most of all, Colleen lived a life of unflinching love, which she showed in a million different ways every day of her life. There was nothing that she wouldn't do for her daughters, sons in law, grandchildren, and anyone who needed her. She attended thousands of basketball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, swimming, wrestling, football, and baseball competitions of her kids and grandkids without complaint or criticism. She sewed prom dresses, Christmas pageant costumes, and crib sheets. She made bottomless meals and millions of  cookies. She systematically, and without skill, doled out homemade haircuts to anyone who would voluntarily perch on a barstool in the middle of her kitchen with a sheet draped around their neck. She spent countless hours volunteering in the preschool at Southridge Lutheran Church, getting as much from the children as they were getting from her. She liberally handed out text messages, phone calls, and hugs. She derived pure joy from the accomplishments of those she loved and lavished compliments upon them without hesitation, with a full heart and an unrelenting pride.

Colleen's infectious zest for life was the center around which her family, near and far, revolved; she was loved without measure, and will be missed forever. Colleen is survived by her husband of 58 years, Michael, her two daughters, Jennifer Sorn (Andy) and JoDean Jordan (Kirk), three grandchildren, Giavanna Powell (Dontae), Riley Sorn (Kieanna), and Jack Jordan, and one great grandchild, Desmond Sorn.

Colleen's celebration of life will take place at Southridge Lutheran Church at 3315 S. Sherman Way, on Saturday, April 26th at

9:00am, with a graveside service promptly following at 10:00am, and food and fellowship to follow.