Marion C. Crossman

Marion Caroline Crossman, age 102, died peacefully on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, at Hanson Hospice Center in Stevensville, Michigan. A Celebration of Life Service will be held 2:00 P.M. Saturday, August 1, 2020 at Starks & Menchinger Chapel, 2650 Niles Rd., St. Joseph, with Rev. David Schell officiating. Memorial donations in Marion’s name may be made to Fairplain Presbyterian Church. Those wishing to sign Marion’s Memory Book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com. Born Marion Jordan on July 6, 1917, on Lincoln Avenue in St. Joseph Township, her parents were Chester and Bertha (Kettlehut) Jordan. Her grandfather Orville Jordan and great-grandfather Frances Jordan were prominent civic business leaders in the area and founders of Union Banking Company, the predecessor to Peoples State Bank. She married Dan Crossman of Spinks Corners, Bainbridge Township, in 1938 and raised three children who survive her, Sharon (James) Bolthouse of Lansing, Joan (Dave) Vanderbush of Ridgewood, NJ, and Thomas (Jenny) of New York City. She is also survived by a sister, Barbara (Richard) Schoonover of Hermosa Beach, CA, as well as five grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, her sister Francis and her brother James. While living in Spinks Corners, she was a member of Union Evangelical United Brethren Church (later Newhope United Methodist), where she enthusiastically chaired committees, went on mission trips to Appalachia and helped cook and serve Swiss steak or chicken suppers to raise funding for building the indoor restrooms. After moving to Fairplain in 1971, she was active at the Fairplain Presbyterian Church, where she celebrated her 100th birthday in 2017. She participated in Circle, helped pack food bags for the Food Pantry, and could be found at the jewelry table at the annual Rummage Sale. Marion worked as a bookkeeper for Yerington and Harris in Benton Harbor for many years; even with a full-time job, she continued her hobbies. She enjoyed dressmaking and needlework, and her skills were greatly admired. She was a long time 4-H leader where she shared her talents and passed them on to many young girls. She made prom dresses, a daughter’s wedding dress, costumes and doll clothes for her grand and great-granddaughters, jewelry bags for countless friends and family, and other needlepoint work that adorns walls in homes of the Crossman clan. Especially treasured are the counted cross-stitch St. Joseph lighthouses. She enjoyed crafting with her grand and great-grandchildren and volunteering at the St. Joseph Library. All of her grandchildren, but especially a couple of grandsons, loved her homemade applesauce. With a spectacular memory, she shared countless family stories with the many relatives who loved her very much. With joy for a long life that was well lived, and for her triumphs over adversities faced, her family entrusts her to the God she loved and served. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”