Maria Del Carmen Crowley

Maria del Carmen Crowley passed away peacefully in her home on March 7, 2019 following a ten-month battle with Gall Bladder cancer. Carmen was born in 1938 in San Salvador, El Salvador. She met Mrs. Mortensen from the American Embassy when she was a teenager. Mrs. Mortensen wanted Carmen to teach her Spanish and offered to teach Carmen English. This led to the opportunity of a lifetime, Carmen was granted a visa to study in the United States. She completed her high school diploma at Valley Baptist Academy in Harlingen, Texas in 1963. She enrolled at East Texas Baptist College in the fall and attended there for three years where she met her husband of 52 years, Kenneth J. Crowley. They were married in the summer of 1966 and Carmen graduated with a BS in Education. She completed her MA in English as a Second Language (ESL) at the University of Miami in 1983.

Carmen was a teacher! Carmen was a mother of three children and when the children became adolescents she launched her teaching career living and working in the Canal Zone, in the Republic of Panama for 27 years. In addition to teaching, Carmen was very active in mission work in Panama. There were missionaries assigned to the work in Panama, but Carmen outworked all of them as a layman while involving her family and was known as ‘Sister Carmen’ to those in the mission field. Carmen helped by organizing community gatherings, worship services and leading people to Christ.

Departing from Panama in 1999, Carmen was given orders to move to Japan where she served as an ESL teacher for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools on the American Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan for ten years. She was loved by her students who were truly blessed to be in her classroom. But the truth be told, Carmen was about serving the Lord. She was asked to teach Japanese adults English and she quickly modified the curriculum to include God’s Word. For seven years she and her husband taught English to Japanese adults, a genuine source of culture enriching while introducing Japanese English students to the Word of God.

In 2009, Carmen and her husband returned to Boulder, Colorado to care for Ken’s aging mother. Since 2013, Carmen and her husband have been active in the Restoration Messianic Fellowship, serving as elders since 2017. Carmen leaves behind a beautiful legacy of what it means to serve God.

Carmen will be remembered lovingly by her husband Kenneth J. Crowley. Her daughter Brenda Crowley-Putt, son-in-law Rodney Putt, three grandsons, Dylan Putt, Austin Putt and Caleb Putt. Her daughter Rebecca Crowley, grandchildren Andrea Portillo and Mark Portillo. Her son Kenneth R. Crowley, his wife Ayse Uzer Crowley and two grand children, Tyler Crowley and Holly Crowley. Her brother Juan Pablo Cruz

along with many nieces and nephews.