Lucile Francis
Stiker ("Mom" Crowe) was born on 20 Aug 1900 in Evansville,
Vanderburgh, Indiana. She is the fourth of 7 children born to
Eugene F. and Jeannette "Jennie" C. (Heerdink) Stiker. She is
found first with her parents and siblings on the 1910 US
Census.[1] They
lived at 918 West 2nd Street in Mt. Vernon, Posey County, Indiana,
on both the 1910 and 1920 censuses.[2]
Several months after the 1920
census was taken, Lucile married a handsome young
soldier, Harold
John Crowe, on 16 September
1920, and moved to Indianapolis.[3]
They had four children between November 1921 and December
1926, the third being my grandmother, Mary Lucile.
She is then found with her husband
and children on the 1930 census living at 1637 Raymond
Street, Indianapolis, Indiana.[4]
Around 1950, Lucile went to work as
a saleslady at L.S.
Ayres & Co. in
Indianapolis. She worked there until 1965, when she
retired.[5]
I've been told that Mom Crowe's
sole purpose in life was to make sure everyone was happy. In
the last months before her death, Lucile stayed with her
daughter, Jeannette, who had a "Florida room" on the back of her
house where she had placed a rented hospital bed for her mother.
One day, most of the family (kids, grandkids, etc.) came over
and the children were outside playing. One of the
grandchildren, around age 4, was "tightrope walking" on top of the
white wooden fence. Even from her sick bed, she was concerned
that he might fall and get hurt, so she started raising all kinds
of heck for someone to get him down.
Mom Crowe passed away on 20 June
1969 in Indianapolis at the age of 68, and is buried next to her
husband in Calvary Cemetery.[6]