Beverly Jean Crawford

Beverly Jean Crawford, born Beverly Jean Gregory, passed away peacefully on July 15, 2022, in Brownsburg, Indiana.

Beverly was born in Cornell, Illinois on February 13, 1934, to Madaleen and Orlie Gregory. She grew up on a farm near Cornell where she attended a one room schoolhouse that was right across the road from her home. She graduated from Cornell High School in Cornell, Illinois. After graduation she attended Brown’s Peoria School of Business where she learned typing and shorthand skills that she would use throughout her life. She couldn’t wait to get away from farm living, so once she finished her courses at the School of Business, she moved to Miami, Florida. Her first job in Florida was as a secretary to the administrator of Variety Children’s Hospital in Coral Gables, Florida. While working there she volunteered to help out in the Medical Records department because she had a love for words and medical terminology. She studied medical terminology and began a job in surgical dictation in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. This was at a time when doctors gave oral dictation to someone who took the report down in shorthand, then typed it up for the patient’s chart. She left Miami when her father became ill and moved to Indianapolis, where she took a position as secretary to the associate director of Lilly Endowment. When her first child was born, she became a stay at home Mom for several years until her children were both in middle school, at which point she took a job as a medical transcriptionist and, later, became a manager, then a regional supervisor for a company called Medical Records Corporation. She ultimately retired from this company after 23 years of service.

She married Wilson Crawford, Jr. on June 30, 1957, and went on to have two children, Marc and Lori. She is preceded in death by both of her parents, her brother Billy Gregory and her husband Wilson. She was widowed at the age of 45 and never remarried. She chose instead to be a career woman and to pursue a variety of hobbies. She was in Toastmasters Club for a time, she doodled in painting, writing stories and poetry. She loved playing cards with her friends and they had monthly bridge games that rotated amongst their homes. Once retired she began enjoying art journaling and creating digital art. She started blogs with friends that she made in the digital art world. She started and participated in digital art blogs as well as poetry and word blogs. She also participated in “real world” writing and art groups and found great joy in all of these activities.

Beverly loved her family and friends, and she was loved in return. She loved going back to Illinois to visit and spend time with her nieces and nephews. She loved it when her daughter, Lori, and Lori’s children came from Oregon for visits. She loved the family gatherings that her son, Marc and his wife Becky had at their home. She loved her annual Girls Trips with her friends where they just hung out together and went shopping. She loved playing cards with her friends. She just had a great love for life and did her best to enjoy each and every moment.

She leaves behind her son Marc Crawford and his wife Becky, and her daughter Lori Crawford Arnold and her husband Tom as well as grandchildren Joe, Tucker, Megan, David, Ryan and Amanda along with great-grandchildren Ryan, Payton, Richard, Andrew, Beckett and Margo. She will be greatly missed by them all.