Alpha W. Crews
July 10, 1923-March 10, 2015
Palo Alto, California

Alpha W. Crews passed away gently of natural causes in her home in Palo Alto, California, on March 10, 2015. Born to Charles Alphon Whillock and Edith C. (Hamm) Whillock on July 10, 1923, in Medford, Oregon, Alpha Belle Whillock was the youngest of three children. Her brother, Charles Whillock, and her sister, Edith Lee Federici, are both deceased.

As a young girl, she worked in her parents' Golden Rule store. She loved meeting and helping people, and thoroughly enjoyed the business aspects of the work. This early experience contributed to her desire to study business in college. After working at the Medford gas company to earn money to attend college, Alpha entered Oregon State College (now Oregon State University), where she was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Kappa and Mortar Board, and served as president of Alpha Lambda Delta. She graduated in 1947, with a degree in business administration. In the 1960s, she began to work again in the business world: first, for Bergman's department store, and later on, for the Syntex Corporation, from which she retired after many years of service as an executive secretary.

During World War II, Alpha helped build airplanes as a "Rosie the Riveter" at the Boeing facility in Seattle, Washington. In June, 1945, Alpha married Robert Wayne Crews, gave birth to two sons, and then moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1949, where Wayne continued his doctoral research in physics. In 1952, they moved to Palo Alto, California, where Alpha gave birth to two more children, a son and a daughter. Alpha lived in Palo Alto for the rest of her life.

Alpha found great meaning and fellowship in her local church, where she and Wayne were loved and respected by many of their fellow congregants. Alpha was devoted to her family, her friends and her faith, and she gave of herself freely and fully to all of them. Alpha's life was also enriched by her love of music, a gift which she passed on to her children and grandchildren. She also loved reading, and after Wayne died in 2003, she enrolled in a "life stories" writing class and began composing her own memories for her children and grandchildren. Alpha was an incredibly loving and supportive mother, grandmother and friend to all. Happiest when she was with people, her first and last thoughts were always about others: she was entirely selfless. Alpha always saw the good in everyone and imagined the best they could be.

Alpha is survived by her children, Joel, Robin, Alden and Christy; and by her grandchildren, Wyland and Chandler Crews, and Alexis and Christopher Crews-Holloway. She is, and will be, dearly loved and missed by everyone.