Dorothy Crawford
Dorothy Crawford, Macon County’s beloved matriarch, died Monday, Dec. 21 at the age of 102, leaving behind a lifetime legacy of social and charitable work that helped shape the county and its leaders who considered her a mentor.
After moving to Franklin in 1945 with her late husband, John, she spent the next 75 years benefitting the county as a social worker, the director of the Department of Social Services, a leader in the Senior Tar Heel Legislature and a general activist for those in need.
In an era before all the roads were paved, she developed a reputation for going above and beyond the letter of her job requirements to help make sure every person she worked with had their needs met. By her 100th birthday, when she was long retired, she was a respected advocate for improvements to social services on the state level.
“When she retired, she told me that she was leaving to do exactly what she wanted to do, and that’s exactly what she did,” said Jane Kimsey, a former DSS director who got her start with the department under Crawford.
The namesake of the Crawford Senior Center, Crawford may be best remembered for her efforts to help Franklin’s senior population, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Her fingerprints are all over charitable efforts in Macon County, including Macon Program for Progress. MPP director Chuck Sutton said she was instrumental in the organization’s activities even after she served as a founding board member and that her influence in the community will be missed.
“She believed in reaching out to people to help them lead a better life, and that’s what the Program for Progress is all about,” Sutton said.
But even among the hundreds of people whose lives were enriched by her dedication, those who will feel her loss the hardest will likely be the people who got to know her personally, all of whom describe her as a foundational mentor who taught them to fight for the greater good even under the most difficult of circumstances.
“She was not only a mentor to me but to hundreds of others as well,” said Macon County commissioner Ronnie Beale. “Some of the things she did with DSS are still standard practice at the state level. … If she were here right now, her last words would be for us to ‘keep on keeping on.’”
They’ll also remember her as one of their most caring and treasured friends.
“We all knew that we had a friend for life in her,” said Dale West, a former director of NC Works who also worked for Crawford. “Every single year, I could expect a call from her on my birthday. That’s probably what I’ll miss the most.”
Funeral services had not been made at press time. Look for Crawford’s obituary in next week’s issue.