Betty (Elizabeth) Crews

Betty (Elizabeth) Crews
July 4, 1934 – February 13, 2025

Betty Crews (also known professionally as Elizabeth Crews) died of a
heart-related incident at the age of 90, shocking family and friends
who were convinced that she would outlive us all.

Betty grew up in Berkeley, California, with her parents, Harry and
Bessie Peterson, and her two beloved brothers, Art and Bill.  She also
had a meaningful relationship with her aunt Edith Gallaher, who
introduced her to art, theater, and other cultural pursuits that she
would value for the rest of her life.  

A graduate of Berkeley High and Pomona College (Phi Beta Kappa),
Betty went on to get her Masters in English Literature at UC Berkeley
and then briefly taught English at Mills College.  In 1959 she married
UC professor and author Frederick Crews, who would be the love of
her life. After a year in Italy, where Fred taught in Turin as a Fulbright
scholar, they returned to Berkeley to start a family, welcoming
Gretchen in 1962 and Ingrid in 1963.  While raising her daughters,
Betty began a second career and became a successful photographer
best known for her work in child-development textbooks.

Betty began experimenting with gourmet cooking as a high-schooler,
after tiring of her mother’s tuna casserole.  For the rest of her life, one
of her greatest joys (and also the way she first caught Fred’s attention)
was to host beautifully prepared multi-course dinners designed to
satisfy the particular tastes of her guests. 

Intent on excelling at all her endeavors, Betty applied herself with
exceptional dedication to her myriad interests — among them, botany,
architecture, design, gourmet cooking, literature (in both English and
Spanish), and knitting. While these interests were deeply personal to
her, they also formed the basis of ongoing connections with her family,
friends, and community — from serving as a docent at the Tilden
Regional Parks Botanic Garden to making intricately knitted sweaters
for every generation of her family.

At age 40, grieving the death of a beloved friend, Betty began
exercising and quickly transitioned from neighborhood jogger to
serious competitor. She earned a closetful of medals and trophies in
local running races, and at age 60 won two silver medals in race
walking at the National Senior Olympics. Even into her 80s, she could
outpace much younger friends during swift walks straight up
Berkeley’s Marin Avenue.

Betty was always known as a straight shooter, and in every realm of
her life she would make new friends who valued her keen intelligence,
interesting perspectives, and frank opinions.

Together, Betty and Fred were a force of nature:  casually classy,
always active, intensely competitive while deeply respecting and
admiring each other.  Fred’s death in 2024 was a blow from which
Betty never fully recovered.

Betty would have been disturbed to read her own obituary — not by
the news of her own death, but, as someone who greatly valued
privacy, by a public discussion of her life that hinted at sentimentality. 
It must nevertheless be said that she was greatly loved and will be
deeply missed by those who survive her:  her children, Gretchen Detre
and Ingrid Crews; her grandchildren, Alejandro and Rebeca Márquez
and Isabel and Aaron Detre; her great-granddaughter, Yael Medrano
Márquez; her nieces and nephew; and her large group of devoted
friends.

Betty requested that there be no memorial service other than a small
family gathering.  No donations are requested, but for anyone who
wants to know, her favorite charity was the Friends of the Berkeley
Public Library.

To plant a tree in memory of Betty (Elizabeth) Crews, please visit our Tribute Store.