Margaret K. Crawford

Margaret (Peg) Crawford of Palos Heights, IL, died peacefully in her home on February 26, 2025, at age 98. 

Peg was born in Danville, IL, to parents William and Helen Kramer, and her claim to fame was playing opposite Dick Van Dyke in a high school play. As a child, she performed in dance and oratory recitals, many of which were memorialized by her father’s photographs. William took and printed the B&W pictures while Helen added subtle color to make rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. 

Peg became a student at the University of Illinois in the science department, eventually earning a Masters degree in bacteriology. As an undergrad, she still sent her dirty clothes home to Danville every week for her mother to wash, a story that tickled her children and grandchildren. She joined Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and lived in the house in Urbana all four years. There she met her husband Richard (Dick) Crawford, Jr. She told the story of when his fraternity serenaded the sorority, and Dick led the singers with his lit cigarette. Suddenly, the cigarette disappeared. Peg ran outside to discover that Dick had fallen down the coal shoot, and they married a few years later. 

With a love for the mountains, Peg and Dick moved to Denver, CO, for Dick to attend law school, and eventually they moved back to the Midwest and settled in Oak Lawn, IL, where they raised their children, Nancy and Richard III (Rick). Peg stayed active in Alpha Omicron Pi as well as in bridge circles, ski club (until she broke her leg in Norway), golf teams, and various drama groups, including the Palos Village Players. She worked in an assortment of laboratories at the University of Chicago for 35 years, doing research in a variety of areas from immunology to reproductive biology. Peg always enjoyed her granddaughter Maggie’s dance performances and her grandson Patrick’s soccer games. The family also spent parts of each summer at the Crawford family home in Grand Beach, MI. Peg loved to travel and she generously took her children and grandchildren on many adventures; a favorite story describes her hysterical screams when a man lifted her onto a camel in Egypt, but when he aimed the camera at her, she smiled and waved like a queen. 

Alpha Omicron Pi gave Peg an outlet for leadership and friendships that lasted her entire life. She participated in almost every convention, many installations of new chapters, and financial drives for the Arthritis Foundation, to name a few. At one point she was the International President of the sorority, and, until a few months ago, she attended virtual meetings with other Past International Presidents (PIPs). When traveling to install a new chapter in Canada, Peg realized on the plane that she had to sneak the initiation pins into the country to avoid customs issues. So she put them all on a string and wore them as a necklace, so worried that she might get caught. 

Until Peg entered hospice a few weeks before her death, she prided herself on her independence, never wanting to leave the comfort and familiarity of her own home. Her caregivers and hospice team were angels who loved and cared for her. When asked how she managed to live this long, she used to say it was the one daily beer she would drink but only after five o’clock. 

Peg was preceded in death by her husband and parents. She is survived by her two children, Nancy Blecher (Robert) of Westchester, IL, and Richard Crawford of Olympia, WA, and two grandchildren, Maggie Koller (Diego) and Patrick Koller. 

A Celebration of Life service will be held at All Saints Lutheran Church during the summer. Please check back here for updates.