A Celebration of Life for Eva Mae Crabtree, 99, of Bridge Creek, formerly of Allen, will be 2:00 Saturday at Allen First Baptist Church. Rev. Chad Kaminski and Chaplain Kathy Brown will officiate. Burial will follow at the Allen Cemetery. The family will receive friends, Friday 5:00pm - 7:00pm, at the Criswell Funeral Home Chapel in Allen.
Allen First Baptist Church has always been a special place for Mrs. Crabtree as she was a member for a number of years and served on the kitchen committee that coordinated and served meals for funerals.
Mrs. Crabtree entered the Gates of Heaven, on Monday evening, January 2, around midnight, at SW Medical Center, in Oklahoma City. She was born January 16, 1923, in Lovelady to Robert Owen and Cathy Illetewahke Hawkins Thompson. She married Charles “Ed” Crabtree on August 2, 1944, in Garden City, Kansas.
Mrs. Crabtree attended and graduated from Chilocco Indian School and was very proud of her Chickasaw heritage.
Mrs. Crabtree worked for Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa in the 1940s. She took great pride in working for Douglas Aircraft during World War 2 where she installed wiring in aircraft. That was a job she was very proud of and she often related the story that a supervisor had once accused her of sleeping on the job, but she was vindicated by a witness who said she was not sleeping on the job, she was just resting her arms. Women who worked to produce tanks, ships, planes and other material during World War II called themselves “Rosie’s.” Today these good ladies are referred to as “Rosie the Riveter” a special term because their jobs in these industries were needed because most of the men were fighting in the war.
With the exception of working for Woodland Hills Nursing Home in Allen for a few months in the 1970s, she was a very proud homemaker, kept an immaculately clean home and could cook like no other!
She and her husband, Ed, raised three children and one grandchild who were all in the Allen High School Marching Band. Daughter Priscilla played bass drum, sons Charlie and Michael and grandson Eddie, all played trombone. She was very proud to be an avid band booster and sponsor with the Mustang Marching Band and attended many games. She often told anyone who would listen the story of going to a football game one Friday night and as she tried to pay her admission, middle school principal, Donnie Johnson, was there and said she was absolutely not going to pay to get into any more games because of her many, many years supporting the band. He said she had done too much for the band to ever pay to get into another game. She and daughter Priscilla also followed The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band to Notre Dame in 1999 when Eva’s grandson Eddie was a member.
In April of 2014, Eva moved to Bridge Creek to live with her grandson and wife, Edward and Cindy, and her daughter Priscilla. As she and her daughter required care, they had several caregivers who came during the day to take care of them. She very quickly became affectionately known as Granny to everyone who took care of her. Some of the more special caregivers were Casey and Donna, who just happened to be mother and daughter. They took very good care of Granny. Her great-grandson, Chris, also took excellent care of her for years. And there was one very special lady, Mary Keith, who was with her from the very beginning, January of 2011, who took exceptional care of Granny, even singing to Granny during her last hours here on earth.
Survivors include son Michael and wife Pamela of Yukon; grandson Edward and wife Cindy of Bridge Creek; grandson Brian and wife Jennifer of Kansas City, Missouri; granddaughter Christie Keylon and Dan Bolster of Sacramento, California; grandson Kevin of Longview, Texas; grandson Daniel and wife Pam of Atwood; granddaughter Jala and husband Hardy of Ada; grandson Matt and granddaughter Kimberly; 8 great-grandsons; 7 great-granddaughters; 7 great-great-grandsons; and 3 great-great-granddaughters.
She was preceded in death by her husband Ed, her daughter Priscilla Myers, Son Charles Crabtree, Jr., parents Owen and Cathy, sister Velma Harrison, brother William Harrison, brother Robert Thompson, and brother Julius “Chief” Thompson.
Pallbearers will be Chase Bashant, Justin Bashant, Christopher Bashant, Dylan Keylon, Brandon Crabtree, Will Crabtree, and Brady Crabtree.
Criswell Funeral Home, Ada
