Marvel June Sharp Crookston, 80, of Halfway, died Jan. 2, 2005, at her home.
Her funeral was Saturday at the Pleasant View 2nd Ward Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Provo, Utah. Interment was at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Marvel was one of five children born to Clark Elwood Sharp Sr. and Juanita Williams Sharp. She was the middle child and was born at Independence, Jackson, Mo., on Aug. 28, 1924.
She married Ray Benjamin Crookston of Logan, Casche, Utah in the Logan LDS Temple on Jan. 6, 1943. They lacked four days of having been married 62 years when she died.
Marvel was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all of her life. She held many responsible callings. She graduated from William Chrisman High School and also attended Brigham Young University for one quarter. Later in life she resumed her education, acquiring her associate of arts degree.
After her marriage to Ray, the couple left for Arizona where he was stationed in the military. They moved to Utah so their growing family would be close to the church and BYU. Besides the love for her family, Marvel loved books.
Most of her purchases were religious, classics, or self-improvement texts. She published articles, stories and poems and wrote an autobiographical novel about rearing her large family. Her organizational abilities were phenomenal.
At the age of 60, Marvel took on the challenge and enjoyed her sky-diving attempt. That sparked her to go on and receive her private pilot license, which she did along with two of her brothers.
Marvel died peacefully in her sleep at the home of her daughter, Gail Crookston Brown and her family at Halfway. They had been taking care of her because she had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the past 20 years.
Survivors include her husband, Ray; 14 of her 16 children, Marnita Hill, Gail Brown, Sherry Smith, Clark Elwood, Joseph Ray, Mark Benjamin, Scott Tyler, Merry Thaden, Janet Mackley, Robert Kim, David Bruce, Douglas Arthur, Kelaine Mendicino and Christopher Lynn. Kay Grammer and Byron Frank Crookston preceded her in death. She also is survived by her siblings, Norma Ruhl, Hazel Bryce, Clark Elwood Sharp and Nona Cross; she had more than 101 grandchildren and at last count, 68 great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Granite Peaks Assisted Living Center through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 14, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor