Ray and Iva Crosby Obituaries

Holyoke Enterprise, Holyoke, CO, January 14, 1993
 
Iva Mary(Critchlow) Crosby of Holyoke was born June 10, 1900 on a farm near Epsom, IN. She passed away in Holyoke on January 5, 1993 after an extended period of illness. Iva had been in declining health for several years and had been in Melissa Memorial Hospital in Holyoke since November 1992.
 
Iva was the fifth child in a family of five boys and one girl born to W.C. and Alice Critchlow. When Iva was nine, the Critchlow family moved from Indiana to southeastern Missouri where the family continued to farm. Iva graduated from high school in Sikeston, MO in 1919, shortly after the conclusion of World War I.
 
She fell in love with Ray Crosby, whom she had met years earlier in Indiana. In 1919 Ray left Purdue University to help Iva's father with the corn harvest in Missouri. He remained in the area and on December 23, 1919 Ray and Iva were united in marriage. To this union two children were born.
 
Iva's brother Jess moved west to Colorado about the time of her marriage to Ray and in 1921 they decided to visit him. Jess and his father had purchased a section of land in Phillips County, southwest of Holyoke. A hail storm destroyed the wheat crop that year and Jess and his father gave Ray and Iva the opportunity to take over the farming operation if they would assume the mortgage, which they did.
 
Over the years Ray and Iva added more acres to their farmstead. To supplement their farm income, they taught school north of Haxtun and returned after each school day to their sod house. The two rooms of the "soddy" had foot boards simply laid on the ground with wide cracks between. A lean-to with a cement floor was added for bedroom space. Life on the prairie in those days was a challenge.
 
Iva was a member of the First United Methodist Church for over 50 years. During those years she volunteered her talents in many capacities such as teaching in the primary Sunday school and working in the Women's Missionary Circles. She was also active in the Order of the Eastern Star where she was faithful to her obligations and served as Worthy Matron in 1955. She and Ray belonged to Hyperian Club from its inception until its dissolution. She enjoyed gardening, cooking, sewing, music and taking care of her home. Iva displayed an outgoing personality; she always enjoyed people and invariably found the best in others.
 
During a Methodist revival in Missouri, Iva as a child came to know Christ. Near the end of her life, with the encouragement of Pastor Pedotto she reaffirmed her faith in the Lord. She was privileged to grow up in a very loving and caring family and maintained a vibrant relationship with her parents as long as they lived. She instilled into the lives of her children the values and standards she learned from her parents and siblings.
 
Preceding her in death were both parents, her husband Ray in 1981, a grandson and five brothers.
 
She will be sadly missed by her children Gloria Woodmancy and husband Wayne of Sharon Springs, KS and Jim Crosby and wife Patricia of Dallas, TX; three grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.
 
Services were held at the First United Methodist Church in Holyoke on January 9, 1993 with Pastor Jack Pedotto and Jim Crosby conducting the service. Diane Thompson provided special music. John Schneider, David Colver, Dennis O'Neal, Dennis Oliver, Ray Ptomey and Lester Roll served as pallbearers. Interment was in Holyoke Memorial Park.
 
 
 
 
Iva Mary(Critchlow) Crosby

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