Maurine Virginia Crandall, a resident of Columbus, died June 28 in Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. A service to celebrate her life will be held in the auditorium at Tryon Estates on July 16 at 2 p.m. It will be conducted by the Rev. Jean Rawls, minister of the Thermal Belt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, with Rev. Ralph Kuether, TE chaplain, assisting. A reception for friends and family will follow in the private dining room.
Mrs. Crandall was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., on May 10, 1922, and grew up in Howell, Mich., the daughter of Earl and Clara Coddington Sharpe, who preceded her in death. She married Louis Crandall, her high school and college sweetheart, in 1942. He died in 2005.
Her three surviving children are David of Norfolk, Va.; Laurine Curtis and her husband, Ted, of Baltimore, Md.; and Marnie McMurry and husband, Bill, of Atlanta. The family also includes seven grandchildren, James Crandall of Norfolk, Va.; Beth Horowicz and Alysa Porter, both of Baltimore, Md.; Marian George of Darien, Ct.; and Chad McMurry and Austin McMurry, both of Atlanta; as well as seven great-grandchildren.
Her education included graduation as valedictorian from Howell High School in 1939 and from Albion College in 1943, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a national scholastic honorary organization; Mortar Board, a national women’s honorary organization; and Alpha Phi Gamma, a journalism honorary organization. She also edited the college newspaper.
During their marriage the Crandalls lived in Albion, Mich.; Lombard and Downers Grove, Ill.; Arcadia, Calif.; Fort Worth, Texas; Mexico City, D.F., Mexico; and Seneca Falls, N.Y., as Mr. Crandall pursued a business career with Container Corporation of America. In each location Mrs. Crandall served in church and school organizations.
They returned to their hometown, Howell, Mich., in 1971, where Mrs. Crandall became a licensed real estate broker and was president of a local firm when she retired in 1982. During their time in Michigan she was elected to the Genoa Township Board and served as the first president of the Joint Townships Services Commission, which was responsible for the construction of a large sewer system. She also helped, as a board member, to establish the Howell Carnegie Library as a district library and to remodel and enlarge the original building. She served as secretary of LACASA, the organization for the prevention of domestic violence, for seven years, where she helped to raise funds for the first shelter owned by the agency.
The Crandalls moved to Clemson Downs, Clemson, S.C., in 1991. While there she joined AAUW and served as secretary of the residents’ association. After moving to Tryon Estates in 1997 she served on the board of Steps to HOPE, the domestic violence agency, for six years and is a former secretary of the Tryon Estates Residents’ Association. She was a member of the Thermal Belt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
It is suggested that memorials may be made to Steps to HOPE, P.O. Box 518, Columbus, N.C. 28722; Thermal Belt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, c/o Penny Kessler, 233 Beechwood Road West, Columbus, N.C. 28722 or to Hospice of the Carolina Foothills, 130 Forest Glen Drive, Columbus, N.C. 28722.
An online guest register is available at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com.
McFarland Funeral Chapel, Tryon.