Marian Claire Crowe

Marian Claire Crowe, a former long-time Hamilton, Montana resident, passed away on February 20, 2025, at her residence in Arlington, Texas, following complications from recent colon cancer and long-time vascular dementia. She was 87.

Marian was cofounder of Bitterroot Furniture in Hamilton with her husband, the late Stephen W. “Steve” Crowe, from its opening in 1966 until they sold the business in 1992. Over the years, she was president of the Hamilton Soroptimist Club, the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, and the St. Francis Ladies organization at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish in Hamilton. Both she and Steve were active in the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

Marian was born in Oakland, California on May 26, 1937, and grew up in Haward, California. She was the eldest daughter of Frank and Elsie Avelar, and had two sisters, Carolyn and Kathleen “Kathy.” After graduating from Hayward High School in 1955, she eventually went to work at Capwell’s Department Store in Hayward, where she met Steve. They married in Hayward on June 14, 1959. They eventually moved to Pleasanton, California, where they raised three children, Deborah, Jeff and Lynn, until moving the family to Hamilton in 1966.

Steve died in 1993. Marian remarried on February 11, 2006, to Arthur C. “Art” Gregr of Hamilton, who was a fellow parishioner at St. Francis. Art died in 2012.

When not involved in community and church work, gardening, and benefit walk-a-thons, Marian loved to travel with each of her husbands, especially on cruises, other overseas destinations, and also Knights of Columbus events with Art. After their deaths, she continued to travel with family and friends and on pilgrimage with fellow St. Francis parishioners. She moved to Arlington in 2017 to be closer to her children.

Marian is survived by her daughters, Deborah Crowe and Lynn Crowe, both of Arlington, and her son, Jeffrey Crowe of Kansas City, Kansas. Survivors also include her two sisters, Carolyn Yuill, now of Sparks, Nevada, and Kathy Santos, now of Fremont, California, and several cousins, nieces and nephews.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 2025, with rosary at 10:30 a.m., at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish, 411 S. Fifth St., Hamilton. A committal service will follow at Riverview Cemetery in Hamilton. Daly-Leach Chapel in Hamilton is handling the arrangements. Condolences may be left for the family at www.dalyleachchapel.com.

Memorials in Marian’s name can be made to the Bitterroot Health Foundation, 1200 Westwood Drive, Hamilton, MT 59840 (benefitting Bitterroot Health – Daly Hospital) or to the national Alzheimer’s Association.