Obituary of Sarah Lee Crowson Guthrie

Sarah Lee Crowson was born in Corsicana on July 15, 1937 to Clarence Chester and Mary Lee Terry Crowson. She attended Corsicana public schools for 12 years. She attended Navarro Junior College, where she was a member of the famed “High Steppers.” Sarah earned her B.S. Degree in Elementary Education at North Texas State University. Although an only child, Sarah was blessed with cousins galore from her eight aunts and uncles known as the Terrys. Her mother loved telling the story of when Sarah was handing out candy to her grade school classmates. Realizing that they were one short, Sarah gave her own piece of candy to the last boy in line. Annual Terry Family Reunions were the highlight of Sarah’s summers. She helped her mother and the aunts shell peas and pecans, can fruits and vegetables, and learned to sing songs of the day that she passed down to her children. The grownups ensured that she and her eleven cousins grew up as brothers and sisters at heart. Their bonds remained strong throughout her life. Her adventures after college began when she took her first teaching job in Kermit, Texas, while living with her Aunt Wilma and Uncle George and her cousin and Goddaughter, Mary Kay (“Kay Kay”) Finley. She taught 1st grade at Purple Sage Elementary and is still remembered and adored by some of her first students. She kept their pictures to this day. In Kermit, she met and fell in love with Bob Guthrie, a new associate in George Finley’s law firm. Bob and Sarah married in 1960. They never forgot about their honeymoon sendoff, when after a few miles down the road, they discovered her Uncle Luke Terry, a stowaway, in the back seat under the balloons. Fortunately, Uncle Luke had enlisted someone to follow, otherwise, he would have been left standing, with no ride, on a West Texas highway to nowhere. On their honeymoon in Ruidoso, New Mexico, they won enough money on a longshot at the Ruidoso Downs racetrack to pay for their entire honeymoon. Ruidoso became one of their favorite vacation spots. Sarah and Bob soon began their family with the birth of Gabrielle in 1961, and Guy in 1963. The Guthries moved to Bob’s home town of Fort Worth in 1966 for Bob to continue his law practice. Having converted to the Catholic faith, Sarah quickly became involved as a long-time volunteer at St. Rita’s, substitute teaching at the kids’ elementary, making exquisitely decorative banners for the church, and hand-sawing and painting her famous wooden Christmas ornaments for the annual St. Rita Bazaar. Sarah loved the outdoors. She soon shared Bob’s passion for hunting, spending countless weekends with him and the kids along with their friends and families, camping, drinking beer by the campfire, hunting, and sharpening her aim with a 20-gauge and a 243. One particularly cold night sleeping in a nest of sleeping blankets, she laughed about having ice crystals form in her nostrils. She learned to snow ski in Crested Butte despite her bad back, and mastered the bunny slopes at age 40. No story about Sarah would be complete unless you knew about “Baby Jay,” an orphaned blue jay that Gabrielle and Guy brought home. She nursed Baby Jay back to health, and taught him to eat bugs and fly. They toted him in his cage to and from the family farm at Hico on weekends, where he, not yet able to fly, once hopped branch to branch, all the way to the top of a giant tree, where Sarah had to coax him back down to safety. A favorite memory was of a particular South Padre vacation that included her Aunt Wilma. Because the beach in front of the condo was scoured daily by tourists and therefore sparse of big seashells, Bob would take the family many miles down the shoreline to a place called “Big Shell,” only accessible by 4-wheel drive. There they could indulge in selecting the biggest and best shells. Having returned to the condo with hundreds of shells, she and Wilma snuck out to “seed” the shoreline before dawn. Then they watched, and laughed until they cried, while the early morning beach combers, excitedly “discovered” the big, unbroken shells, having no idea they had been planted by Sarah and Wilma. The deep motherly love she had for Gabrielle and Guy blossomed even more with the birth of her two grandsons, Luke and Ethan, whom she babysat for 9 months after Gabrielle returned to work. Gran was so active in their lives, attending baseball games, helping plan birthday parties, and hosting elaborate Christmas and Easter family celebrations. In her 70’s, she learned how to use a smart phone so that she could text with Luke and Ethan. She loved getting pictures from them. Her life was twice again blessed with two beautiful great-grandchildren born to Ethan and Delanie Schmidt: Braxon, born in 2014, and Fallon, in 2020. They made her heart sing. In her last years, God entrusted her daily care to her devoted son, Guy. Without his love, tireless hours, and dedication, Sarah would not have been able to live in the comfort of her home the last year of her life. In the end, God granted Sarah the peaceful last hours for which we had all prayed. We thank God for her life, her love, and our memories. She is now at peace, united with the love of her life, Bob. Rest in Peace, our Mother, our Gran. We love you as big as the sky!