LUCY ANNE CRAWFORD (DEXTER)

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LUCY ANNE CRAWFORD (nee DEXTER) We sadly announce the peaceful passing of Lucy Anne Crawford on Monday, November 18, 2013 at the Grace Hospital. In the last three years she struggled, in her quiet way, with the same sarcoma that overcame Terry Fox. She will be greatly missed by her sister, Doreen Calvert of Rosetown, SK, her daughters Susan Crawford-Young (James R. Young) of Manitou, Alice Crawford (Michael Franzmann) of Winnipeg, and son Stephen Crawford of Brandon, grandchildren, Janet, Nancy and Andrew Young (Ashley Johannesson), Erica and Neale Franzmann, great-granddaughter Brooklyn Young, who will miss her "Super Grandma", nephew Chris Calvert (Barbara, Jason and Lisa) of Rosetown, SK, and niece Connie Calvert of Victoria, BC. Mum is predeceased by her husband, Cyril A. Crawford in 2003, and her parents Ralph and Arlena Dexter. Born January 17, 1923 in Rosetown, SK, this feisty girl was raised on a farm near Ridpath and later by the Creek Flat on Eagle Creek near Anglia. Mum started school at age five because she could not be parted from her older sister Doreen. In 1941, her first job was in a drug store in Unity, working the soda counter along with mixing potions. Her second pharmacy assistant job was in Saskatoon before she entered Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan in 1943. She and three other ladies became Canada's first female pharmacists when they graduated in 1946 with degrees in Pharmacy. Mum then became a staff member of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1948, she was invited to become an academic lecturer at UBC where she began her Master's degree. There she met Dad, a mechanical engineering student who surveyed her instead of the flagpole on the Chemistry building. They married May 17, 1949 after a whirlwind courtship. Her pharmacy career spanned five provinces ending in the Victoria Hospital in Winnipeg when she retired in 1980. She spent her life helping others and was a big advocate for the hard of hearing and Deaf. She advocated for Alice and Stephen when they became deafened as infants when we were living in Deep River, ON. She taught them to be oral deaf by following the Dick Tracey Clinic guidelines and it worked - she went beyond what was humanly possible to do it and was told so by Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. She took that expertise to volunteer as a nursery school helper in the Preschool for the Deaf at Society for Manitobans with Disabilities for a few years in the 1960s. She was the Consumers Association of Manitoba resource advocate for the hard of hearing looking for advice about hearing aids. She worked with Manitoba MLA Sidney Green to introduce Hearing Aid Legislation in Manitoba to set standards for education and practices of Hearing Aid Dealers, particularly the inclusion of children under 16 to be tested by professional audiologists and to be subsidized by the province. The Hearing Aid Act passed in 1972. In 1976, she worked with the Consumers Association to put pressure on Bell Telephones not to remove the magnetic coil in telephone receivers that allows hearing aids to operate on telephones. She travelled to Toronto to Bell Telephone's Annual meeting to make a little public disruption to get their attention with a reporter from Globe and Mail. She was booed by the board of directors during her prepared statements, however she caught the attention of the CEO of Bell Telephones and he met her afterwards. She persuaded him to keep the coils in the telephones. She did the finances for Dad's business, Manitou Manufacturing Co. Ltd., juggling the complex loans for numerically controlled machines and the running of the day to day business before it was sold to Cormer Aerospace in 1989. Mum was a consummate storyteller where her dry, quiet sense of humour shone through. She was an occasional paid guest storyteller on CBC Radio. She is the author of four books and several children's stories, ran the "Neverending Story Writing Group" and was part of the "Reading Grannies" who read their own stories to daycare children. She played the violin all her life and was part of a quartet in her retirement playing for small groups. She was honoured in the Winnipeg Free Press article "Lasting legacies: Prominent Manitobans who died in 2013" published January 4, 2014. She always went by what she considered the family motto "You will never do all that you are able unless you do more than you can." Thank you to the helpful staff of Sturgeon Creek One, W.R.H.A. health care aides and Comfort Keeper ladies who helped care for mum in her last years. Thank you to all the medical staff on North 5, especially Elly who shared very profound thoughts with Mum. A special thank you to Miracle who was with Mum at the end, Mary and Sharon, the wonderful caring care aides of Drake Medox for their compassion during mum's last days. Please join us to celebrate and share stories of a life well lived on Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at Neil Bardal Funeral Centre, 3030 Notre Dame Ave. We are joining our parents together on their wedding anniversary. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Lucy's memory to Manitoba Cultural Society of the Deaf, 300-245 McDermot Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3B 0S6. NEIL BARDAL FUNERAL CENTRE 204-949-2200 neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 10, 2014