ETHEL D. CRONE
Died Feb. 11, 2015
Ethel Donnelly Crone of Goldsboro passed away Feb. 11, 2015, at the University of North Carolina Hospitals surrounded by family, caregivers and a dear family friend.
She was born in Middletown, N.Y., to the late Judge and Mrs. Harry L. Donnelly.
Her mother intended her to be a serious dancer, and she was accepted to study with the Russian premier ballerina, Anna Pavlova for early training. She performed as a child around metropolitan New York City dancing under the stage name "Dolly Donnelly." When the family moved to Cuba in the 1920s, she left ballet behind. After the stock market crash of 1929, her family returned to New York where they resided during the Great Depression.
She graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and then spent four years in the Midwest attending the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana. While there, she won the Mademoiselle Fiction contest under a pseudonym. She met her husband, James, while working in Panama during WW II where he was stationed as a marine. Prior to that job, she had worked in New York City for the Manhattan Project, yet its mission -- to build an atomic bomb --was so secret she did not learn its purpose until later.
Mrs. Crone, along with her husband, were both extremely interested in education and to that end they jointly contributed to the Wilson Library and the Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, of which James was a very active alumnus. When she first came to Goldsboro in the late 1940s, she taught sixth grade and is fondly remembered by many of her former students for her excellent teaching, especially English.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, James C. Crone Jr., a certified public accountant in Goldsboro and her eldest daughter, Dr. Anna Lisa Crone, a professor of Slavic Literature at the University of Chicago. She was also preceded in death by her sister, Janet Beale and her brother-in-law, Jack Beale.
She is survived by her daughters, Laurel and Moira and their husbands, Charles Sneed and Rodger Kamenetz. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren: Liliana Belkin and her partner, Natalie Belkin; Gillian Sneed and her husband, Ricardo Valentim; Anya Kamenetz and her husband, Adam Berenzweig, Ryman Sneed and her husband, Israel Mejia; and Kezia Kamenetz. She has two "very dear" great grandchildren, Luria "Lulu" Berenzweig (2) and Tadeu "Teu" Crone Rosado (1).
Mrs. Crone was a person of many interests - art, architecture, literature and people. She chose as inspiration for her home on Salem Church Road "The Lady Pepperell House," a 1760 historic home in Kittery Point, Maine and used interior architectural elements from Vernon Hall (1819) a major plantation house in Mount Olive. She saved the architectural components from ruin when moving them to their present location to preserve them. She was also actively involved in historical and cultural undertakings serving as a member of the Tryon Palace Commission in New Bern and also as both secretary and president of the Wayne County Historical Association.
Friends of the Crone Family are invited to "The Farm," Mrs. Crone's home at 1923 Salem Church Road, on Sunday from 4-6 p.m. A private burial and service will follow on Monday, for family only, according to the wishes of the deceased.
Donations in her name may be made to the Wayne County Historical Society, 116 N. William Street, Goldsboro, N.C. 27530.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on February 13, 2015 1:49 PM