After a life well lived, Georgie Crawford passed away peacefully at the age of 87 on December 13, 2021 at the Lakeshore Hospital. Loving daughter of Clair William Crawford and Mary Grace Owens Crawford, she was predeceased by her siblings David, John, Erma (Macaulay) and Joyce. She will be fondly remembered by her sisters-in-law Janice Crawford and Marilyn Crawford, cherished cousins, nieces and nephews in Ottawa and New Brunswick, devoted friends Marilyn Gollan and Beverly Morris, “surrogate daughters” Patricia Abbott and Erica Phare-Bergh as well by many friends and colleagues. A woman of vision and determination, blessed with a great sense of humour, she was a generous cousin, aunt and friend, a great organizer and hostess. Working with children gave her energy and music was the canvas of her life.
A fervent advocate of arts education for young people, Georgie had a rich career as a teacher and fine arts consultant with the PSBGM/EMSB, where she founded the PSBGM Children’s Chorus in 1980, still going strong as the EMSB Chorale, which she administered for 20 years. Deeply involved in the community, she served as an executive member of the Montreal Council of Women and Delta Kappa Gamma (Gamma Province), volunteered for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and founded the literacy group Le goût de lire communautaire/Community Born to Read. In 2002 she received a National Choral Award for Distinguished Service from Choral Canada, the Montreal Council of Women’s Woman of the Year Award for her cultural initiatives in the community and Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
Family, friends and colleagues are cordially invited to a celebration of Georgie’s life which will take place Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 3 p.m. at Ste-Geneviève United Church, 4697 boul. St-Jean, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC H9H 2A7. A reception will follow at Voluntas Commémoration, adjacent to the church. Please confirm your presence by May 31 with Patricia Abbott at pabbott@emsb.qc.ca.
In keeping with her wishes, Georgie was cremated and her ashes will be interred next to her parents’ burial place at the Royalton Cemetery in Wicklow, NB near her hometown of Centreville on August 20, 2022.