Leone M. Crowley

ELYRIA - Leone Marion Crowley passed away peacefully on March 2, 2025 in the home of her daughter Kathleen, her devoted caregiver for the past five years, just two days shy of her 106 1/2 birthday. 

Born on September 4, 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to George and Rosalia Niebler Schott, she was a quiet child who loved school, reading and going to the movies. 

Her parents owned a corner grocery store where she helped after school and on weekends. Knowing that both her parents had to quit elementary school to help support their families, Leone's ambition was to go to college. She graduated from Mount Mary College in 1939 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Library School and graduated with a Bachelor of Library Science in 1943. Because library jobs were so scarce during the war years, she had only three job opportunities. She was hired by mail by the Youngstown Public Library, and traveled alone by train, to her new job in Ohio. She worked for three years as a librarian at the Breaden Family Branch (now known as East Branch) and at the St. Elizabeth Hospital library. 

Through her providing library services at the Hospital, she met a local priest who arranged a blind date with the man who became her husband, Henry. They were married in June, 1946 at St. Edward Catholic Church, and were blessed with seven children in 9 1/2 years. Living in Boardman, Leone was devoted to raising her children and ensuring they got a good education at St. Charles Elementary School and Boardman High School. Henry passed away in June 1965, leaving her to finish raising their children, and seeing all of them graduate from college. After a 17-year leave to be with her family, Leone returned to the Youngstown Public Library to work as a reader's assistant at the Main Library and subsequently was moved to the Boardman Branch until she became the head librarian at Canfield in 1967 from which she retired in 1982. After her retirement, Leone was able to fulfill a long-held passion to travel the world, which had first developed when she and her sister visited the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Her many photo albums include images of her travels to Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, European river tours, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Scandinavia, and Morocco. 

Preceded in death by her husband, Henry P. Crowley, her parents, and her sister, Grace Schott Robertson.

She is survived by her seven children: Kevin (Maryann), Timothy (Carol), Brian (Karen), Gregory (Amy), Kathleen C. Schreiber (Robert, deceased), Sheila and Anne, 16 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:00 A.M., at St. Mary Parish, 3504 Main Street, Mineral Ridge, Ohio 44440, with Rev. Richard Murphy officiating. Burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery, Youngstown, Ohio. Family and friends may visit at the Church from 9:45 A.M. to 10:45 A.M. before the Funeral Mass. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Leone's memory to the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, 55 Ryder Rd, Ossining, NY 10562.

Arrangements are entrusted to Higgins-Reardon Funeral Homes, Austintown Chapel.