Mary Jo Crawford

Mary Jo Crawford, 96, of El Dorado, died Wednesday, November 8, following a lengthy illness. Jo was born October 12, 1927, near El Dorado, Arkansas, to Joe L. and Jimmie Hays Crawford. She grew up in El Dorado and graduated from El Dorado High School in 1945.

After high school graduation Jo attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, where she majored in Physical Education and minored in English. Following her graduation from Hendrix in 1949 she coached basketball and taught PE and English at Huttig High School for several years. She then coached and taught for a year at Arkansas High School in Texarkana. After Texarkana, she coached and taught for several years at Parkers Chapel High School. This was her favorite coaching and teaching tenure. For school year 1967, Jo demoted herself to Junior High and gave up coaching. For the next 22 years she taught English at Rogers Junior High School (named for her aunt and uncle) until she finally retired after 40 years of teaching.

Jo was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church in El Dorado. She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, a professional honor society of women educators. During her teaching career, she was a member of many other organizations associated with education.

Following her retirement Jo devoted her time to her normal household activities: reading extensively, hosting family “Sunday dinners”, hanging wallpaper, flower gardening, and occasional grass cutting. A few years later she added babysitting her grandniece to her weekly list of activities. The latter was probably her all-time favorite “extracurricular activity”.

Jo was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Sam Hays Crawford and Dan W. Crawford. She is survived by her nieces, Sammye Crawford of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Connie Ehlmann (Jim) of El Dorado, and her nephew, Chris Crawford (Andy) of El Dorado. She is also survived by two grandnephews, Jay Ehlmann of Royal Oak, Michigan, and Samuel Ehlmann of Austin, Texas, and a grandniece, Hannah Black (Tanner) of El Dorado.

Visitation will be held 4 - 6 p.m. Sunday, November 12, at Young’s Funeral Home. Funeral service will be at 2:00 p.m. Monday, November 13, at Young’s Funeral Home, Dr. David Bush officiating. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church Scholarship Fund, 201 S Hill, El Dorado, Arkansas 71730.

Condolences can be expressed online at www.youngsfuneralhome.com for the Crawford family.