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History and Biography of Bill and Mary Lee (nee Dacus) Crew
Not all scanning errors are corrected yet-LD Jan 25 2002
Introduction and Eulogy
by Editor LD Pierce
Editors note: Mary Lee Crew was
very dear to my heart. I did not grow up know her very well
but got acquainted with her thoroughly in the 1980's when her mother (my
Aunt Susie Pierce Dacus)
passed away. I was very very close to Aunt Susie and was going
back and forth from Spearman TX
to Lubbock Texas during my college years (1972-1978). I visited
with Aunt Susie many many times.
By this time my Grandfather LD Pierce had died and there was only Aunt
Susie and Uncle Allen Pierce left.
Aunt Susie was very kind to me and treated me very special!! I
helped Aunt Susie get her poetry book ready for publication, and we
talked some about the pierce family tree but not much. I met Mary Lee
and Bill Crew at Aunt Susie's funeral. In the 1980's I visited her
and Bill several times with my girl friend and co-worker Joan Carol
Gianattasio at their fantastic house on the golf course north of Houston
in the Exclusive suburb called the Woodlands. In 1995 after
my Mom Juanita Pierce died I had finally begun the pierce
genealogy quest shortly before she died. As i got started the only
relative really excited about my findings and my Pierce Book was MARY
LEE CREW!! We talked countless times by telephone and corresponded via
email. In Spring of 2000 (or 2001) she sent me this new history of
her family by email and by us postal letter to my dad's house in
spearman TX. At the same time her daughter Mava submitted a
history and biography of her family (which I cannot find at this time)
My original intent was the get both these stories in the Pierce book
along with Uncle Bobby Jack's story (and a few new things about the
Wilbanks) and to put out a new edition of the Pierce Genealogy
Book. However that did not happen before her illness got much
worse.( and in that time I moved from Dallas To Oklahoma and was out of
town 2 entire summers.) In the Spring of 2001 Mary Lee sent me all
her important old family photos that belonged to her mom- My Aunt
Susie. I computerized and digitized these they they are on this
website. These photos are very important to me and I am glad Mary Lee
insisted I scan and copy them. the photos of Cat Head pierce and also
the cowboy photo of Uncle Allen Pierce and "Mutt" Dacus (Mary
lee's father) is incredible!!! Many of the other photos were very
important additions to the pierce photo genealogy. Mary Lee's last
phone call to me was in November 2001-I was working in Dallas TX for two
months. I had forgotten to return her call for a few days and when
I did call I did not get an answer. My dad called Dec 2 or 3rd and
Bill Crew Called about the same time to let me know her illness has
progressed very bad- and that she was in a coma and not expected to
live. I will miss her very much . I was always encouraged by
her EXCITEMENT about my genealogy work. I hope to get all the new
genealogy data in the Pierce book and a new edition out soon. My
next edition will be dedicated to her!! LD Pierce January 25 2002
History and Biography of Bill and Mary Lee
(nee Dacus) Crew
Not all scanning errors are corrected yet-LD Jan 25 2002
I
Mary Lee Dacus was bom March 21,1925, in Amarillo,Texas to Susie Pierce
Dacus and Henry Dawson Dacus. We lived in Amarillo for several
years before moving to Panhandle, Texas, where my sister Patsy Ruth
Dacus was bom m December 8, 1927. A year later we moved to Spearman,
Texas where my father began farming but
soon gave that up to go to work for kW. Morton's Ford dealership. I
entered first grade at Spearman Elemetary School in 1931 and graduated
from Spearman High School in May 1942. In high school lwas very active
in the Home Economics Club of Texas and served as its president in my
senior year' In that capacity I was privileged to make a trip to Dallas
with Miss Hughes, my Home Economics teacher We made the trip by
train, stayed at Adolphos Hoteltoured the Neiman Marcus Department Store
and even went to a night club for dinner and a floor show. It was a
memorable and thrilling experience for a young&I from a small town
in the Texas panhandle.
I entered Eastern New Mexico College, Portales New Mexico, in June 1942,
majoring in Home Economics
with plans to become a teacher in that subject. In the Fall of 1943 1
transferred to West Texas State College
in Canyon, Texas and graduated from there in May of 1945 with a Bachelor
of Science degree.All of my
undergraduate w(wk was done, of course, during the World War 11 years. I
enjoyed college very much and
belonged to sororities at both schools. In February 1945, at one of our
college Saturday night dances, I met
Lt. William L. Crew, a pilot stationed at Amarillo Army Air Base. His
home was in St. Albans, New
York.We fell in- love and were married June 1, 1945 in Denver, Colorado.
Bill had been transferred there to
Lowery Army Air Field for more training to fly B29 airplanes. The
wedding took place only a fewdays
following my college graduation but my mother went with me on the train
to Denver and planned all the
arrangements. During war times, plans and schedules were much more
condensed thal%during normal times.
Bill and I lived off the base in a small rented apartment in a nice
private home until he was transferred to
Maxwell Arin-y Air Base in Montgomery Alabama and then to Lincoln,
Nebraska whwe he and his crew
were to pick up a new B29 and fly to the Pacific. However, the war ended
on the day they arrived in
Lincoln and they were never sent over. We lived in Lincoln in rented
quarters for three months until Bill
was discharged in November 1945. After a 4i%t visit to Texas to see my
parents and other relatives, we
moved to St. Albans to live temporarily with Bill's parents.
In February 19469 Bill
entered Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York, located in the north
central part of
the state. Within two weeks I was fortunate to land a position as Home
Economics teacher at the high
school in Westmoreland N.Y. a small town about five miles from the
college. I continued to teach there
until Bill graduated with a BA degre in June 1949. During those years we
enjoyed many cultural and social
activities at the college. Bill earned 9 varsity letters in
hockeybaseball and football and was the hockey
team captain. He received the Sellers Award for Hockey NWP in his senior
year. Hamilton then was a
private small college for men only. Today it has become cood but remains
small and private with its high
scholastic rating intact. We both have many fond memories of our evly
mwied years living in apartments
provided for us on the beautiful college campus.
Upon Bill's graduation, we
moved to Colorado Springs where he entered Colorado College as a
graduate
student preparing for a career in teaching and coaching. I obtained a
job as a substitute teacher in Manitou
Springs, a small town nearby. I was offered a permanent position for the
following year but could not
accept it because I had to go to Amarillo to help my family cope with my
sister Patsy's illness. She had
married in 1948 and gave birth to her son George Patrick Admnehak on
Dec. 16, 1949. However, while the
baby was completely healthy, Patsy did not recover. She died Jan. 29,
1950. Bill and I drove to Amarillo as
soon as we learned Patsy was ill and while I stayed on he had to return
to complete the semester. He then
joined us and we all did what we could to help Patsy and take care of
the baby and husband. Bill worked as
manager of two Dairy Queen stores and continued his graduate studies at
West Texas State at night.
In the Fall of 1950 we decided to return to Clinton, N.Y. to explore
teaching opportunities in that area. Bill
quickly landed a position coaching and teaching in a small college,
Mohawk Technical Institute, which was
part of the University of New York State. I began working as a
substitute teacher at Westmoreland High
School where I had previously taught. They offered me a permanent
position for the following year but we
were expecting a child and I could not accept it. Out daughter Mava
Johann, was bom January 14,1952. In
October 1953 wedecided to move to California where Bill would seek
business opportunities. His parents
had retired and moved to Culver City, California in 1948. Bill soon
landed a job with Hardware Mutual
Insurance Co. In early 1954 he took a position with ]3endix
Corporation's Zenith Carburetor Div. as a sales
and service representative covering all the stateson the West Coast.
Later that year we bought our first
house, in Hawthorne, Calif I gained a position as Home Economics teacher
at Yukon Intermediate in 1958,
the same year that Mava entered Elementary school. In 1961 Bill began
working for Ford Motor Company
as District Manager of the Los Angeles District for their Ford Parts
Division. Later that year we bought a
beautiful old Spanish style house in Palos Verdes, Calif I spent a great
deal of effort in remodeling the
house which was very close to the Pacific Ocean. However, we were not
destined to stay there long for in
1962 Bill was appointed to the position of Training Manager of the Ford
Parts Div. and transferred to their
headquarters in Wixom, Michigan, near Detroit. I secured a position as
Home Economics teacher at
Barnum Junior High in Bkningham, Michigan. Mava entered the Bloomfield
Hills schools. In 1963 we
purchased a stately old home m Pine Lake in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
After Bill began working for
Ford we were transferred many times. During that almost 25 years, we
lived
in and owned homes in California[twicel, Michigan[twirel, Washington
State, Minnesota, Texas. In 1965
we were transferred back to California and from that point on I did
not,teach again. While we were in
Washington , Mava entered Redmond High School and graduated in 1970. She
entered Washington State
University in 197,0 as we were being transferred to Minnesota. In her
senior year she married Daniel
Riehle, a student preparing for an agricultural degree. They graduated
together with Bachelor Degrees in
June 1974. We Lived in Edina, Minnesota for two years while Bill was
manager of that district. In 1972 we
moved back t@o Bloomfield, Nfichgan when Bill was promow to
Merchandising Manager for Ford. In 1975
we were transfmcd at our request tD Houston, Texas whffe Bill took over
the management of that district.
We were very
happy to be back in my hwne state of Texas, and nearer to my mother, who
was in poor
health. We lived in Kingwood a town about 25 miles outside Houston.
From 1978 through 1983 1 worked as a real estate agent for Remax Realty
in KingwoA Texas. This was a
very rewarding experience and I was proud to be recognized as one of the
most successful agents in that
area. In August 1983 Bill was offered a position as Executive Vice
President and COOof Calsonic, Inc. a
auto parts manufacturer in Southern California, owned by a Japanese
company. He took early retirement
from Ford and went to California to run Calsonic, while I stayed @on in
Texas to close out my business and
sell our home. We moved into our newly purchased home in Mission Viejo,
California in Dec. 1983.
During Bill's seven years with that company he made many trips to Japan
and on two occasions we were
given VIP trips to Tokyo with side visits to the cities of Kyoyo, Nara
and several resort areas. We played
golf with the Chairman of the compay and his wife at their country club,
had professional guides with
limousines on our tours and rode the bullet trains. The hotels and
Japanese hms were outstanding and the
gracious hospitality afforded us by the company made us very comfortable
in that exotic country.
I worked as a real estate agent in Mission Viejo from 1984 through 1986
and from that point on I
concentrated on Golf, Bridge and other interests. During the years Bill
worked for Ford and Calsonic we
did a great deal @of traveling, both business connected and for
pleasure. We enjoyed trips to England,
Scotland, Paris, Rome, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Mexico and Canada. We
traveled through most of the
United States and lived in many of them. Bill retired from Calsmic in
1990 and we remained in Mission
Viejo until 1994 when we moved to Horseshoe Bay, Texas where we once
owned a vacation condo. It is a
beautiful retirement community in the IEII Country on lake LBJ, about 50
miles west of Austin. We lived
there until 1996 but had to leave because I came down with a very severe
case of Cedar fever, an allergy
that is unique to that area and is resistant to all remedies. We moved
in August 1996 back to Mission Viejo
and purchased a new home in an over-55 community. We are 5 minutes from
Lake Mission Viejo and only
15 minutes from the Pacific ocean. The weather is great and we have many
activities for seniors. We are
blessed with a wonderful daughter, Mava and her husband Dan, and
grandsons Peter, Jeremy and Nathan..
Written byMary Lee Dacus Crew
March 2001
Mary Lee Passed away due to
Leukemia Dec 6 2001 and was buried Dec 13,2001
in Washington close to her
daughter Mava.
Excerpt: The Hanford County Reporter Dec. 20 2001
Among the Neighbors by Helen Fisher
Word comes to Sybil and Billy Miller of the passing of former
Spearman Classmate Mary Lee Dacus Crew, after a long illness. Services
were at Mission Viejo Calif. She is the last of the Leo Dacus Family a
prominent family here for years. (Editor Ld Pierce notes no
mention of Susie Pierce connection. She was survived by her
daughter and family and nephew Patrick's son John who lives in Amarillo
Tx.)
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