Isobella Crow

On Saturday, August 22, 2020, our family lost its most beloved Great Grandma, Grandma, Nanny Ider, mother-in-law, and mom due to natural causes at age 97. We believe she is now reunited with her God, parents, husband, daughter and many other family and friends from her amazing 97 years on this earth. Isobella Dykes Crow was born by midwife at home on May 16th, 1923 in Hamilton, Scotland. When she was 3 years old her parents decided to move to the United States. In 1926 they sailed for America on the Athena, a Cunard liner. It was the start of the depression, but her father Robert found work in Detroit at the Ford Motor Company. In 1932, the family moved back overseas to England after the factories in Detroit closed and Isobella and her family lived first in Barking, England, and Dagenham from 1932 until 1940. She went to elementary school until she was 14 and then was enrolled in Pitman’s Business College for a two-year course in business. She did very well in the typing and shorthand, but the English, bookkeeping and commerce were not her “cup of tea” she would say. She was still in school when war was declared and her parents sent her to Oban, Scotland, to stay with her aunt and uncle, fearing London would be bombed right away. After a while, it did not seem that London would be bombed so her daddy wrote her a letter and said that when she had saved up the fare, she could come home. She had to work another month before that happened. She got home in February 1940, just in time for the Battle of Britain. Her first job was in London working for Rutledge Publishing Company in Blackfriars, but the air raids got so bad that she decided to quit. After that the family was in Coventry. At 7pm on November 14th, 1940 they had to leave their food on the table and the fire in the fireplace to get to the shelter when the sirens went off. The Germans had bombed Coventry all night and it was a terrible site and experience. Shortly afterwards, Isobel decided she wanted to go into the service, and she volunteered with the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). On her 18th birthday they called her and said report to London. She stayed in London for 6 weeks learning how to march, what carbon copies went with what, and how to wash greasy dishes. She was transferred to Inverary, Scotland – a very lonely spot with 100 girls, 1,000 sailors and 10,000 soldiers stationed there. It was the first base of combined operations personnel and they were training for the invasion of France (later in 1944 she would stay up all night typing orders for the different ships in the invasion). She would say they worked hard all day and had a dance every night! After Inverary, Isobel was sent to Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland and from there to London, still in combined operations under Lord Louis Mountbatten. On New Year’s Eve in 1943, Isobel met her future husband, Edwin T. Crow at the Regent Palace Hotel. Eddie was there with another sailor (both were in the US Coastguard) and after a time together at the table, they all decided to dance around the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus. Isobel said about the time period; “there was a great spirit of camaraderie and it was a very romantic time.” That night Eddie said he would marry her, even though she was engaged to someone else. They saw each other two more times before eloping and being married in Coventry England on July 15th,1944. Eddie wrote a letter to her fiancé and that said, “sorry the best man won.” She actually had 3 or 4 men ask her to marry them, as she was a beauty and a catch! After the war, she was released from the WRNS and sailed over to America with the other war brides to meet up with their husbands. She and Eddie lived in St. Louis when their daughter Heather Anne was born about nine months later. Their son Robert Thomas followed a few years later in Duncan, Oklahoma. They had an exciting life together and lived many more places including Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Venezuela. While in Texas Isobel put the business college lessons to work as a Secretary for the Law Department at Frito Lay, and retired from there in the mid-1980s. She volunteered for over 20 years with the Women’s Auxiliary at Baylor Hospital in Irving. She also loved her “British Club” ladies and a good cup of tea! She was preceded in death by her parents Mary (Maimie) Robertson Cochran and Robert (Bobby) Dykes, her husband of almost 70 years Edwin Thomas Crow, and her daughter Heather Anne Crow Robinson. She is survived by her son Robert Thomas Crow and his wife Shelia Crow of Forney, son-in-law Jerry Robinson and Becky Ennis of Dallas, granddaughter Cindy Robinson Best and her husband Eric Best of Lubbock, and great grandchildren Tanner Best and Ben Best of Lubbock, granddaughter Amy Robinson Jones and her husband Hamlin Jones of Frisco, and great grandchild Heather Jones of Frisco, grandson Shawn Thomas Crow and Chante Mayorga and her 2 boys of McKinney, granddaughter Brynn Crow Tremper and her husband Cody Tremper of Dallas, and great grandchildren Greer Tremper and Lark Tremper of Dallas. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Isobella's name to the Alzheimer Association or American Cancer Society.