Rose Mary Crawford

Age 87, passed away on January 15, 2021. She was born on March 5, 1933, in Melbourne, Australia. RoseMary came to Dixon in late 1969 with her husband, Stan, who she met on Crete, via Ireland, where their son Adam was born, and via San Francisco. Their daughter Kate was born at the old Embudo Hospital in 1970. RoseMary wrote and directed plays for her children’s classes all the way up from kindergarten into high school and beyond, including Dixon Elementary, Pojoaque High School, Las Cruces Alternative High School, and Northern New Mexico Community College. During that time she directed hundreds of young actors, a number of whom have become well known in the arts. Her children’s plays, “Never Say Never,” “The Wicked Witch and the Tickle Monster,” “The Mad King of Chalupa,” “You Gotta Have a Dream” had the effect of empowering many of her young player students, particularly those who were not doing well in more formal subjects—and gratifying the hundreds of parents and grandparents who saw their children shining on the stage. She was also a prolific writer of children’s poetry. Much of her drama work in the schools was done under the NM Artists in the Schools Program. As an actress, she performed in plays at the Taos Center for the Arts, most notably in the role of Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst. She played starring roles in I Rise in Flames Cried the Phoenix, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Mad Woman of Chaillot, The Road to Mecca, and Night Mother. She was also an active participant in the work of the family farm, El Bosque Garlic Farm in Dixon, and in building the first rooms of the family adobe home. Her warm, magnetic personality affected almost everyone she met. Her wonderful cooking richly fed the world of her family and their many friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Trevor Wilton, her stepfather, Wolf Klaphake, her mother, Alice Wilton Klaphake, and her brother, Don Wilton, all of Australia Besides her immediate family, she is survived by her half-sister Zita Klaphake and her half-brother Van Klaphake, also of Australia. Arrangements for cremation are being made by Riverside Mortuary. A celebration of her life will be held at the farm as soon as the pandemic lifts.