Sensitive and strong; honest and direct; disciplined and spontaneous; organized and instinctive; passionate and practical; creative and artistic; shy and confident. Courageous. Brave.
Catherine Mary Burke Crews of Oxford, died May 18, 2026, at age 68 from osteomyelitis (bone infection) after a 13-year battle with a rare and often lethal cancer, NUT Carcinoma.
Catherine was born in Memphis, TN, May 25, 1957, grew up in Jackson, MS, and lived 34 years in Tupelo where she nurtured her three children and worked part time. She and her husband, Billy, moved to Oxford in 2013.
She graduated from St. Joseph High School in Jackson in 1975 and received her BFA from the University of Mississippi in 1979.
Catherine often said, she lived many lives – A sculptor of her children, a runner for almost 20 years, an artist who owned her own art studio for 12 years, a yoga practitioner and teacher for 16 years, founder of Shanti Yoga Studio, a church administrator, a gift shop clerk, frame shop worker, and daycare teacher.
A community volunteer and activist, she had many ministries, including her 40-year bread ministry, baking more than 1,000 loaves of bread for friends and loved ones. In the last 12 years of her life, she did what her grandchildren describe as “litter patrol” on her daily neighborhood walks. She also refurbished and painted street signs in historic downtown Oxford.
As the administrator for nine years of the NUT Carcinoma Support Page on Facebook, Catherine counseled over 400 families across the world, suffering from this rare cancer. Catherine was the beneficiary of world class health care, including medical providers in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Memphis, TN, Tupelo, Jackson, and Oxford, MS. She used her survival as a means of giving back to others. Catherine treated all people as equals. She honored the divine in each person she met.
She is predeceased by her parents, Robert Oliver Burke, Sr., and Martha Ann Jones Burke.
She is survived by her five siblings, her brother, Bob Burke (JoAnn), and four sisters, Martha Rossie, Louise Rainey (Pat), Susan Smith (Phillip), and Gina Richardson.
The most prized gifts of her life were her three children and six grandchildren, all of whom survive her. Mary Catherine Molpus, her husband, Rich, and children, Nash and Reese of Tupelo, Lowrey Crews, his wife, Nash, and children, John and Spencer of New Orleans, LA, and Perrin Crews, his wife, Jill, and children, Jay Lowrey and Mary Carmen of Memphis, TN.
She also is survived by her husband and life partner of almost 47 years, William Lowrey Crews (Billy) of Oxford.
Catherine lived with dignity and died with dignity. A memorial service will be held at The Jefferson in Oxford at 365 Highway 6, at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, 2026. A celebratory reception/visitation will follow at approximately 4:00 p.m. at the same location. All are invited. The internment of her ashes will be at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford at a later date.
Memorial gifts may be made to The 18th Ward Sports Club, a foundation established by her son, Lowrey, serving 12,000 children and young adults in inner city New Orleans, LA, at the18thward.org or 3329 Bell St., New Orleans, LA 70119. Memorial gifts also may be made to NUT Carcinoma Research at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Dr. Christopher French Lab Fund, 263 Huntington Ave. #318, Boston, MA 02115.
