News and Views

Elaine Crowe, 97, the wife of the late Rev. Raymond Crowe, died Jan. 2, 2018, in Bel Air. A service was held Jan. 8 at Bel Air UMC. 

Elaine Walker Crowe, the daughter of the late Milton Raymond Walker and Frances Eleanor (Daughton) Walker, was born Sept. 10, 1920, in Wilna, Md.  She attended rural one-, two- and three-room schools in Harford County and graduated from Bel Air High School in 1937. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg in 1941, and taught English, Library, and Secretarial Science to grades seven through eleven in Havre de Grace and Bel Air.

She and Raymond Crowe met as counselors at Junior High Camp at Western Maryland College in Westminster. When she and the Methodist pastor decided to marry in 1949, she retired from teaching. He retired in 1978 and they settled in Forest Hill. He died in 1985.

Over the years, together they served Midland, Cresaptown, Linden Heights and Ferndale Charges. While at Cresaptown, their children were born.

Crowe was active in church since a teenager, serving as a teacher, choir member, director, organist, communion steward and pastor’s wife. She was a member of the United Methodist Women at all levels: local church, district, and conference, receiving five membership pins for her service. She was a Lay Speaker, a member of Annual Conference and an officer in the Asbury Methodist Home Guild.

While teaching in Bel Air in 1949, she was initiated into the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, an international society for Key Women Teachers. For 42 years she served as the Maryland State Treasurer for the organization. Until 1990, she was also treasurer/manager of the Epworth Federal Credit Union, a credit union for Methodist ministers of the Baltimore Conference. After her retirement, she continued to serve the credit union as a member of the board, a member of the credit committee and as secretary until 2010.

Crowe was also active in community work, serving as chairman of the Federal Food Distribution in Bel Air, an officer of the Bel Air Golden Age Club, and the Harford County AARP. She was nominated as one of Harford County’s Unsung Heroines and  also as one of Harford’s Most Beautiful People.

Survivors include son Stephen R. Crowe and wife, Lillian, of Airville, Pa.; daughter, Rachel Fox of Brooklyn, Md.; four granddaughters, five grandsons; numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. A sister and her husband also survive.  

Memorial contributions may be made to Bel Air United Methodist Church, Organ Fund, 21 Linwood Avenue, Bel Air, MD 21014.

Condolences may be addressed to the family and sent to the church.