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Thelma Marie Crow
Born: October 28th, 1937
Died: July 18th, 2022
Obituary
Thelma Marie Scarff Crow, 84, of Burlington, died Monday, July 18, 2022, at the Klein Center in West Burlington.
Born October 28, 1937, in Oakland Mills, IA, she was the daughter of Jesse Emil and Inez Bishop Scarff. On May 26, 1969, she married Oren "Red" Crow at the Sunnyside Baptist Church in Burlington. He preceded her in death on October 17, 2001.
She attended the one room country school at Oakland Mills through the eighth grade and then graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1956.
As a youngster, besides the chores and working on the farm, she did ironings for the country school teachers, and her sisters, and detassled corn as a teenager. After her marriage, she worked at Sheaffer Pen Company (then based in Mt. Pleasant), was a house keeper, and then a kitchen aide at the then Henry County Memorial Hospital in Mt. Pleasant. She worked at Sylvania for several years, and then for IRC/TrW for over 19 years. She then went to work for Wal Mart where she worked in the domestic department, fabric department, stocking shelves, and then in the grocery department, until she retired after almost 15 years.
At the age of 28 she was a stage four cancer survivor. For many years she and her husband, bought and remodeled older houses. They even built one from the ground up in Sperry, Iowa. Illness sent them back to live in Burlington. After the death of her 93 year old aunt, Ethel Cash in 2009, she started volunteering at the Great River Medical Center until 2017. She enjoyed all kinds of crafts, but sewing was her preference for many years and she loved sewing for her grandchildren. When the grandchildren grew up enough that they didn't want homemade clothes, she turned to crocheting and cross stitching and many friends and family received crocheted names, and cross stitched gifts from her. She also got great pleasure out of her computer and delving into the genealogy of her family and others, plus the e-mailing of friends and family.
Survivors include her son, Randy Lee (Roberta) Ford of Niota, IL formerly of Burlington; two grandchildren, Brandon (Cory Mellinger) Ford & Sara (JP Korf) Ford; six great-grandchildren, Allison, Gavin, Isabella and Traesin Ford, Sayje Spindlow, Nikolai Ware; two step-great-grandchildren, Carson Gutierrez and Miles Korf; two sisters, Jean (Ed) Leichty and Karole (Stan) Miller; and several nieces and nephews.
Besides her husband of 32 years, she was preceded in death by her parents, sister, Cynthia, and a baby sister, Emily Sue.
Cremation has been entrusted to the care of Prugh Crematory.
The Graveside Committal Service for Mrs. Crow will be 11:00 AM Saturday, July 23, 2022, at Aspen Grove Cemetery.
A memorial has been established.