Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 4, 1994 TAG: 9407040032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He was a painter, retired advertising man and tireless promoter of the arts in his native Roanoke Valley.
He was 74. His friends called him Jack.
"He gave ideas. He gave time. He gave in-kind contributions from Associated Advertising. There was just no end to it," said Robert N. Fishburn, Creasy's longtime friend and fellow veteran of long service on the Mill Mountain Theatre board of directors.
At the time of his death, Creasy was involved with Fishburn and others in the preparation of a book on the history of theater in Roanoke. The dedication will be revised to include Creasy.
"Jack would just take the ball and run with it," said former Roanoke Mayor Willis M. "Wick" Anderson, another old friend of the artist. "It wasn't a question of twisting his arm. And he was absolutely dependable. I never knew him to fail to come through on anything he undertook."
Admirers formed the John Will Creasy Art Society more than 20 years ago to honor the man and his work. It met annually on his birthday - Feb. 18 - with its namesake in sportsmanlike attendance.
The society's founder, Harry Y. Gamble, said he wanted to honor the artist while he was alive to appreciate it, but Creasy was a little embarrassed by it and would have preferred that the group promote culture in general.
Gamble is a retired pastor of Roanoke's Calvary Baptist Church, of which Creasy was a lifelong member.
Creasy was a native of Roanoke and, except for his college years and wartime military service, a lifelong resident. He was born in 1920 and graduated from Jefferson High School in 1937. He graduated from Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University) in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army from 1943 until his discharge on Christmas Day 1945.
Creasy married the former Adelaide Kent Snead in 1946. Their son, John Jay, was killed in an accident in 1982. Their daughter, Sallie, lives in Roanoke.
Creasy had worked briefly at Heironimus after college. He returned to the department store after the war, rising from the window decorating staff to head of all displays and finally to head of advertising. He left Heironimus in 1958 and in 1959 he opened Associated Advertising with Fred Corstaphney, former WDBJ-TV publicity man, as his partner. The agency closed in 1991.
In addition to running the agency and carrying out his civic activities, Creasy was a watercolorist whose works hang in many homes and corporate collections. Pawley's Island, S.C., a favorite vacation spot, provided subjects for many of his landscapes.
Creasy was a founder, with former Roanoker Ernest Johnson, of the Virginia Watercolor Society.
He said he liked most of his paintings but was never wholly satisfied with one. Yet, he told a reporter once that he was not a serious painter.
"I paint mainly for the home and not for exhibition and compensation," he said. "I do not paint to protest social or political inequity and injustice."
"He didn't have time for that kind of art," said Betty Dye, a friend and collaborator on many arts-related civic projects. "He was too busy getting things done. He was involved in everything good that has happened in the arts in the Roanoke Valley."
With Dye and others, Creasy founded the Museum of Theatre History, an organization dedicated to the preservation of artifacts and information about all kinds of theaters in the Roanoke Valley. He was known for rescuing furnishings, posters and other artifacts and memorabilia whenever institutions like the American Theater and the Roanoke Academy of Music were torn down.
The items often found a place in the decor of Creasy's own home. Many will go into the museum's collection, which will have permanent exhibit space in the Jefferson Center.
Creasy was a color consultant to a number of architects during his career, and he had a hand in the design of many buildings' interiors in the area.
"I do a good bit of decorating work because I like it and it kind of satisfies that part of me," he once told an interviewer. He said he was annoyed by the "purist attitude that only painting, sculpting and such constitute true art. Good art can be found in decorating an office, a store window - even in designing street signs. Life is too full of things to limit our interests and endeavors to one."
Creasy had a hand in design of the new entrance to Theatre B at Center in the Square. He served on the board of Mill Mountain Theatre until the bylaws required his departure, then joined other alumni in a group called the Curtain Callers. He recently received the group's Summit Award for service to the theater.
Until his illness, the artist was deeply involved in the Arts Place at Old First, a neighborhood arts center on North Jefferson Street. Housed in the landmark 19th century home of First Baptist Church, one of Roanoke's foremost African American institutions, the center has as one of its principal missions the taking of arts to children.
It was a mission shared by Creasy.
"He cared passionately about art education for youth," said Ann Masters, longtime Creasy friend and former curator of the Art Museum of Western Virginia.
His encouragement was instrumental in the Junior League's successful establishment of ArtVenture, the children's art education center at the Art Museum of Western Virginia, according to Susan Jennings. An early leader in the ArtVenture project, Jennings today is executive director of the Arts Council of Roanoke Valley.
Creasy received the council's first Perry F. Kendig Award for lifetime achievement in the arts. He has served on the board of Opera Roanoke, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, the arts council, the Art Museum of Western Virginia and Showtimers community theater.
He has been on the Roanoke Arts Commission, the City of Roanoke Architectural Review Board, the arts advisory committee of Virginia Western Community College and Longwood College.
Creasy was Roanoke's father of the year for community affairs in 1969. He received the Advertising Federation of Roanoke Valley's first silver medal and has been recognized for volunteer service to Blue Ridge Public Television.
He helped organize the art collections of Dominion Bank and Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. As designer and decorator for bank systems, he decorated 35 offices.
"There were days when he would say, `This is my sixth meeting,' " Fishburn recalled. "I don't know how he had the time. He gave more of himself than anyone I know. His primary goal was not `Jack Creasy does this' or `Jack Creasy' does that. His primary goal was to promote the valley."
"It's been a privilege to know him," said Betty Dye.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Creasy is survived by his brother, Lewis A. Creasy of Roanoke.
A service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Oakey's Roanoke Chapel.
by CNB