Alice Annabelle Koonce Crowther went to her eternal reward and rest on Aug. 15, 2020.

Born in Pass Christian on May 20, 1923, she grew up in Clarksdale and then Yazoo City, graduating high school in 1941. She attended Mississippi State College for Women, graduating a year early in 1944, to support the United States’ war effort. She worked for the Army Medical Library in Washington, D.C., during the last year of World War II. She then earned her master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1947.

She had a long professional career as a teacher and librarian, working for Mississippi College, the Mississippi Department of Education and the Vicksburg Public Schools. She operated the professional library for VPS and ended her career as a librarian at Grove Street Elementary School when she retired in 1983.

She married Charles Edward Crowther on July 7, 1956, whom she had first met while in the fourth grade in Yazoo City. The couple located in Vicksburg after their marriage. They had three children, Carol, Edward (Lori) and Carl.

An active member of First Baptist Church in Vicksburg, she served as church librarian from 1956 to 2010. She was active in Sunday School, the Women’s Missionary Union, and Big A, an outreach program for underprivileged youth. Until her own health made it difficult, she delivered the church bulletin to shut-in members of the church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles, and her brother Riley. She is survived by her children, Carol of Denver, Colo., Edward (Alamosa, Co.) and Carl (Austin, Texas.); and one grandson, Christopher Verbeck, of Squamish, British Columbia.

The family wishes to acknowledge the invaluable support of her three caregivers, Edna Davis, Linda Neal, and Penny Sweet, whose devoted expertise allowed her to live in her own home until she relocated to her heavenly abode.

Glenwood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

A viewing (9 a. m.) and a celebration of life service (11 a. m.) occurs at First Baptist Church, 1607 Cherry Street, Vicksburg, on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Interment will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery.