Loniese Reese Crawford

Loniese Reese Crawford, formerly of Gosnell, died peacefully at home with family in Chicago on August 10, 2017. Born in Yarbro, September 15, 1922, she would have been 95. She was the daughter of Lonnie Reese, who died prior to her birth, and Mattie Bunch (nee Moody).

She was preceded in deathby her parents, all of her siblings, her husband Thomas Martin Crawford, Jr., and two of her children, Tommy Edward Crawford and Ricky Don Crawford.

She is survived by her son Joey Crawford (spouse, Sherry) of Gosnell, and grandchildren: Rhonda McCarty (spouse, Barry Bryant) of Chicago; Marty (and Rhonda) Crawford of Gosnell; Tommy (and Tonya) Crawford of Jonesboro; Ricky (and Melissa) Crawford of Gosnell; Keith Crawford of Bokoshe, Oklahoma; David Crawford of Nashville, Tennessee; Christina Crawford of Fayetteville; and Jodie Crawford of Fayetteville. An additional granddaughter, Michelle Crawford’s whereabouts are unknown. She had 16 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.

Loniese was well known in the Blytheville area as a strong and loving woman. She married Tom in 1937 in Caruthersville. Together they started and grew several business ventures in the Gosnell area. In addition to gas stations, groceries and used car sales, in which she worked side-by-side with Tom, Loniese opened her own beauty shops (one in Gosnell and one at Lake Norfork) and at one point had a small clothing store.

She was clearly not afraid of hard work and would tackle any job in front of her. Anyone who knew her realized her true passion was buying and fixing up houses. She was flipping houses before it was trendy. She wouldn’t hesitate to walk up the steps to any house she wanted and ask about buying it. With Joey’s help, she fixed up so many houses in Gosnell that people joked there probably wasn’t as house there she hadn’t owned at some point.

Her other passion was her family. She prided herself on providing her children and grandchildren with the support they needed to have homes, education, and work. Her family knew they could count on her when times were hard.

She will be remembered most as a person who embodied God’s love and grace with everyone she encountered. A celebration and remembrance of her life will be held at Howe’s Chapel on the campus of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois at 2 p.m. on September 15, 2017. A family gathering and graveside service to inter her ashes next to her beloved Tom will be held in Blytheville later this fall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts are made to Habitat for Humanity.