Clara Bell (Wright) Crawford

Clara’s Story... Clara Bell Wright Crawford was the embodiment of I Corinthians 13. In Eugene Peterson’s translation, “The Message”, we are reminded that “Love never gives up” and “Love cares more for others than for self.” That was Clara. A simple woman who graduated from East High School, in Columbus, around the start of World War II, Clara dreamed of higher education. She wanted to be a nurse. But, she was not able to fulfill that dream. She educated herself instead by reading, observing, and participating in the world of her times. She believed in volunteerism so she served as a PTA President, a Scout Leader, Sunday School Teacher and the secretary of Pierrian Coterie Club, with the National Association of Colored Women’s Club. At an early age, she joined Love Zion Baptist Church under Rev. M.B. Myers, Sr. She sang in the choir when she was young. She worked with the nursery class at the church and helped in the kitchen at times. She sent her children to Sunday school every single Sunday and encouraged their faith walk through this same congregation. Later in life, she was able to participate more fully by attending bible study and working in the Women’s Missionary organization. She had a strong but quiet faith life. She had a deep prayer life. She was at times a shy and reserved woman. She was sophisticated, intellectual, and above all, practical. She could be critical and matter of fact, but she could also be deeply passionate about those things she loved and believed in. She enjoyed politics and current events and read the paper daily for much of her life. She was a true career woman, although she would not have described any of her work as a “career” in today’s sense of the word. She was loyal and committed and highly professional at whatever she did. Once, while driving by a large, old home on the Eastside of Columbus, she pointed to the house as a place where she had worked for a family while in high school. After high school, she went to work in a cafeteria that operated for military and civilian employees on the grounds of the Defense Department Depot as it was once called (now DSCC). She worked behind the steam table serving food and preparing salads. . Later, she was promoted to cook. The work was hard, but she took pride in the high quality food served to employees. She was well liked by co-workers and cafeteria guests. Then, in the early 1970’s, she did something that her children thought took lots of courage. Clara got fed up with work in the food service field and, on the advice of her good friend Betty, she quit that job, took a test, and trained to become a psychiatric aid in the Juvenile Division of the Columbus State Hospital. She spent more than fifteen years at that position, working the shift from eleven to seven. She received many commendations while there for her work. Clara learned how to drive at the age of 50 and bought several brand new cars over the next twenty five years on her own. She was always a very resourceful and independent woman. But, driving and having her own car gave her a freedom and independence that really changed her life. She blossomed in this new found freedom. Clara was the oldest of seven surviving children of Edward and Lucinda Wright. Her parents had traveled from Alabama, probably in the 1920’s as part of the “Great Migration” of African-Americans from the South to northern cities for greater opportunities. Both of her parents were illiterate, although her father could read and write a little. Clara became the “business manager” for her parents, writing checks, reading documents and taking care of business on the phone. The Wright household was a busy and boisterous place in the forties and fifties, with teenagers, grandchildren, neighbors and relatives in out much of the time. There was a huge garden in the back which supplied much of the household food. In the fall, there was a large canning operation and jars of food were stored in a cellar under the house. Clara learned to cook, can and bake, which were skills that she lovingly shared with her own family throughout her life. In her mid-twenties, Clara met Neal Crawford, a World War II Veteran and another immigrant from Georgia, while riding the bus back and forth to the Depot where they both worked. They were married at a big family wedding at the Neighborhood House Settlement House in Columbus on March 24, 1948. They remained married until Neal died in March of 1988. They went through a lot together including good times and tragedies, buying and selling houses, giving birth and raising three children, Ramona Elsie, David Neal and Julia Ann Crawford. They provided a college education to all three of their children. Through it all, they remained committed to their marriage and to their family and the home they had created. At the heart of Clara’s life was her love and devotion to her children, her family and her friends. She excelled at all three. She loved being a mother. She loved each child equally but differently. She suffered the ultimate pain of any parent when her youngest child, Julia Ann, died in 1994. As Clara slipped into dementia in her later years, her sweet disposition, courtesy and graciousness never left her. Even in her confusion, she had an immediate smile and warm laughter for all she met. She maintained her dignity and poise. Clara Wright Crawford is survived by her two remaining children, Ramona and David. She was a wonderful grandmother to Neal David Micah Crawford and Mara Joelle Green. She is survived by her only remaining sibling, Wallace (Carol) Wright, as well as three sisters-in-law, Bertha Howard, Susie Crawford, and Ida Demons. She is survived by many nieces and nephews, two of which she was especially close to, Ward Lewis and Pamela Lewis Scott (Steve). She made many very close friends throughout her life. Two in particular were very close, Betty and Ossie. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three close sisters, Dixie Parker Tolbert, Irene Wright Lewis, and Dorothy Benjamin, and two brothers, Edward Wright, Sr. and Arthur Wright. She was a wise woman. She was a wonderful mother. She was a great sister. She was a faithful daughter. She was a loyal friend. Her life is best summed up in this expression: When life gives you lemons, Make lemonade! Clara did. Rest Mom... David, Ramona, Neal and Marra.