1919 – 2003

LEWISTON – Dorothy M. Crowley, 83, died Friday, July 25, 2003 at Marshwood Center for and Health and Rehabilitation.

She was born in Lewiston on Nov. 5, 1919, the daughter of Daniel and Winifred (McCarthy) Callahan. She was a member of St. Patrick’s Church in Lewiston. She was married to Daniel J. Crowley Jr. They had been married for 44 years when he died on Oct. 28, 1985. She graduated from Edward Little High School in 1937.

She was an excellent seamstress and enjoyed making clothes for her six grandchildren in their school years. She also enjoyed knitting and made beautiful sweaters for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed traveling. When her children were grown, she became an active volunteer in the community.

An avid reader all of her life, she was a member of Friends of the Library in Auburn, and instrumental in starting a Friends of the Library in Lewiston. She supported many literacy activities. She volunteered in Lewiston and Auburn schools working one on one with children needing special attention, especially in reading. She was a Literacy Volunteer. She also did volunteer work for a number of agencies and organizations such as Channel 10-WCBB, Community Concepts, and was a local chairperson of Daffodil Days.

She was recognized as the outstanding volunteer of the year for RSVP in 1988. Her most satisfying work was as a hospice volunteer with Androscoggin Home Health Services for over 10 years. In 1989 she was named a recipient of the Robert Turcotte Memorial Award at A.H.H. In the spring of 1989 she traveled to Washington, D.C. where she was honored for being chosen to receive the Administration on Aging’s Older Volunteer Award on behalf of the State of Maine. She was a warm and caring person, and devoted to her family. Unassumingly, she touched the lives of all who came to know her, especially in her work as a hospice volunteer.

Survivors include three sons, John and his wife, Rita, of Jay, Daniel J. and his wife, Celeste, of Durham, and Paul of Portland; a daughter, Dorothy Crowley Noel of Auburn; a son-in-law, Garnet Dawson of Jay; 11 grandchildren, Kathleen Noel King, Ralph Noel, Sean Noel, Joseph Crowley, Christopher Crowley, Peter J. Crowley, Stephen Crowley, Mary Crowley, James Crowley, Patrick Crowley, and Ryan Dawson; four great-grandchildren, Jessica Taylor, Nicholas Taylor, Myles Noel and Evan Dawson; two cousins, Anne and Horace Damon; and many nieces and nephews. She is also survived by many friends, including those with whom she made her home at The Meadows in Greene in recent years.

She was predeceased by her husband; sister, Mary Callahan Delehanty; and daughters, Kathleen Crowley in 1957, and Susanne Dawson in 2001.