Craig Michael Spooner

Ski to Tee

Obituary

Our beloved husband, father, brother, and friend, Craig Michael Spooner, 75, passed away on June 19, 2026, after a brief yet courageous battle with heart failure. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the oldest of three brothers, the son of Norton and Elayne Spooner.

Craig’s love of the mountains began early, on a pair of skis his father first strapped to his feet. The two of them carved turns through New England winters and, when the snow gave way, played a little golf together — a passion that led Craig to become a caddy at a local club at the age of twelve. These were the two pursuits that would shape the rest of his life. Craig grew up and was educated in Massachusetts, graduating from St. John’s High School and Assumption College with a degree in political science.

Craig first taught skiing at Wachusett Mountain in Westminster, Massachusetts. But it was a magazine that changed the course of his life. As a young man fresh out of college, Craig read about a brand-new ski resort rising in the mountains of Utah — Snowbird — and decided he simply had to see it for himself. He pointed his car west on a road trip to get a firsthand look. He never went back. Craig fell in love with that mountain the instant he laid eyes on it, and Little Cottonwood Canyon became his home for the rest of his life.

He became one of a small group of the earliest ski instructors Snowbird ever employed — the beginning of a remarkable career that would span more than fifty years. Over those decades, Craig taught thousands of students to love the sport the way he did. Fun, entertaining, endlessly patient, and genuinely caring, he was the kind of instructor people requested by name and remembered for a lifetime. In the summers, he traded his skis for a tool belt as a skilled finish carpenter, and never passed up a chance to get out on the golf course, where he remained a devoted recreational golfer.

It was at Snowbird, in the ski school where they both worked, that Craig met the love of his life, Stacy. They married in 1985 and built a family together with their two daughters, Whitney and Kendra.

Anyone who met Craig encountered the exterior first: sarcastic, caustic, honest to a fault, and refreshingly in-your-face. But that was only the outermost layer of an endless riddle — Craig was a perpetual “layered onion,” and that prickly surface only barely masked what lay beneath it: a sharp intellect, genuine insight, and a deep caring for the plight of the world. He was endlessly interested in humanity and forever turning over the question of how to make the world a better place.

And yet he was pragmatic enough to know where he could actually answer it — not in grand gestures, but in the simple, profound work of bringing joy and accomplishment to others. He did it mostly through the outdoors: teaching countless people to love skiing, and (informally, invited or not) golf, always with a teacher’s critical eye for how someone could improve. And he did it by being an easy, effortless friend to more people than anyone could count.

Many — perhaps most — of these friends were certain, at first, that Craig wasn’t particularly interested in them, only to discover that he’d been listening all along, quietly absorbing the details of their lives and their hopes for themselves, and would then “shock” them by revealing just how much he cared about the depth and texture of their experiences and their happiness. Nothing brought him greater joy than knowing his presence in someone’s life had left them happier, prouder, and more capable than he’d found them.

Craig is survived by his wife, Stacy; his daughters, Whitney (married to Tyler Aikens) and Kendra (married to Dave Wojczynski); and his brothers, Kevin and Todd. He was preceded in death by his parents, Norton and Elayne.

Above all, though, Craig loved his family, and he said so endlessly. Stacy, Whitney, and Kendra were the great joys of his life, and they were never far from his thoughts — when he wasn’t with them, he was talking about them. Anyone who shared a chairlift or a golf cart with Craig came away knowing all about his three girls. And it was, perhaps, the most telling thing about him: for all the gruff exterior, the man was, in truth, a giant, lovable teddy bear of a man.


Scholarship Fund
In lieu of flowers, donations in Craig’s name may be made to the newly established Spooner Memorial Mountain School Scholarship Fund. Created as a lasting tribute to a man who spent more than fifty years inspiring others, the fund has been embraced by Snowbird Mountain School as a permanent institution.

Each year, it will honor one of the mountain’s most dedicated instructors or guides as they continue to pursue the highest levels of mastery in their craft. Each recipient’s name will be engraved on a permanent plaque, ensuring that Craig’s legacy — and his enduring belief in the art of teaching and connecting on the snow — remains a visible and meaningful presence on the mountain for generations to come.

Donate to the Spooner Memorial Mountain School Scholarship Fund — https://gofund.me/3f903bec4

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