By Kate E. Salute
"Well, I've got some errands to run in the morning, and then I teach religion in the evening and then go to the Knights of Columbus for bingo after that, but how's tomorrow around three?" Crawford asks after mentally scanning her schedule for a small window to fit in yet another request for her time.
"I don't know when she ever finds time for herself - she doesn't know how to say no," said Greta Valdes, a friend and neighbor for more than 15 years. "She's always helping everyone. She's a giving person. We live across from each other, and one day we met in the street and she asked if I would be interested in joining the Knights of Columbus, and we remained close ever since."
And ever since, Valdes has been a member of the Knights of Columbus St. Mary's Council No. 2228, where Crawford was once president and where she currently runs bingo nights as a fund-raiser. She was named the Bell of St. Mary's in the early '90s, an honor similar to Person of the Year, said Valdes.
"In addition to everything she does, she goes to Mass every day," said Valdes. "Not just every week - every day. Mrs. Crawford has not missed a day of Mass in all the years that I know her. She is a very devoted person.
"She really does have the biggest heart in the world. Whenever you call on her, she is there. Everything she does she does very, very well."
Sue Sayers is the president of the American Legion Post No. 44 Ladies Auxiliary in Malverne, where Crawford is chaplain. She has known Crawford for 20 years, "first and foremost as a friend and neighbor," said Sayers.
In addition to being members of the Ladies Auxiliary together, Crawford, who has been a volunteer religion teacher for 38 years, taught Sayers's sons. "She's a mentor to us all," said Sayers. "She's just a great person, and a positive role model for the whole community. She's involved and well rounded. She never focuses on just one thing. She's able to be everywhere and everything for everyone."
Crawford's daughter, Lee McElroy - one of her four children - said, "She's a chronic volunteer.
When we were growing up she was a 4-H leader. She's always been very involved in the church. I don't know what inspires her, but [volunteering] is just something she likes to do. She thrives on it."
The memory of being a 4-H leader is still fresh in Crawford's mind. "I was seven months pregnant, and I had told my oldest daughter that if no one else volunteered to be a leader, I would do it," she recalled. "No one did, and my daughter sat there going, 'Mommy, Mommy, you promised!' So I wound up being a 4-H leader for 13 years, and it was wonderful. I really learned a lot."
Crawford was a special-education speech teacher in the New York City school system. Over a span of 30 years, she worked in four of the city's five boroughs. She retired 10 years ago. "But she always did volunteer work on the side as well," said McElroy.
Crawford has been a member of the Malverne Library Board of Trustees for more than 16 years, along with Virginia Muldoon. She is an ex-president of the board and was instrumental in the much-needed expansion of the library five years ago, Muldoon said.
Aside from teaching religion at Our Lady of Lourdes for nearly four decades, Crawford is a eucharistic minister as well. She is in charge of the altar servers, serves communion and is a lector. "She's a wonderful lector - she really proclaims the word," said Anne Coghlan, director of religious education at the church. "Some people just read, but she really makes it come alive."
The Rev. Frank Parisi has been with Our Lady of Lourdes only since the end of June, but has already recognized and come to appreciate Crawford's dedication to the church. "Eileen is a daily participant in Mass," said Parisi. "She's a member of the liturgy committee. I see her a lot - she's always doing something. More importantly, everything she does, she does with a smile. She does everything with joy and happiness in her heart."
As if being a devout Catholic, a long-time 4-H leader, a library trustee, an active member of the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus and the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians weren't enough, Crawford helped save lives for 20 years as a volunteer for the Malverne Ambulance Corps.
When she entered the corps she had no medical training whatsoever, said Bill Malone, the corps'
president. To become an Emergency Medical Technician, Crawford underwent 140 hours of training, and later became an advanced EMT after completing an additional 220 hours of training. At one point she was vice president of the corps. Even though she retired from responding to calls, Crawford is considered a life member for her dedication to and good standing with the organization.
"She was really dedicated to the corps," said Malone. "She was always there. Every Thursday night you could depend on her to get in the ambulance and answer a call, no matter what."
It's easy to ask why anyone would give so much time to so many things, barely having a moment to herself. But Crawford has an easy answer. "It's not what you know, it's who you know," she said. "That's what I tell my grandkids. What that means is that you have to do things to meet people, emphasis on the 'do things.'"
Crawford certainly practices what she preaches. Not only does she seem to know everyone in Malverne, but everyone seems to know her. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have a nice thing to say about Crawford and her numerous philanthropic hobbies.
