Marie Keller Crawford, age 88, of Florence, AL. passed away Sunday, August 30, 2026 at her residence. She was a native of Toone, Tennessee.
Visitation will be held Thursday, September 3, from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at Williams Funeral Home, Florence. A graveside service will immediately follow at St. Michaels Cemetery, St. Florian, with Tim Akers officiating.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, James ‘Jim’ Crawford, Jr.; son, James ‘Jimmy’ Crawford, III; parents, Mary Louise Miller and Curry Russell Keller, Sr.; brother, Curry Russell Keller, Jr.; granddaughter Sarah Catherine Whitehead; and grandson Lucas Sean Brasili.
Marie and Jim married in 1959, five months after they met at City Drug Store when she was on break from her job with an accounting firm. In 1967 they started Mid-State Publishing Company in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The company printed many newspapers throughout Middle Tennessee and Northwest Alabama until 2023.
Together they owned four weekly newspapers, The Democrat-Union, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee; Hickman County Times, Centerville, Tennessee; the Colbert County Reporter, Tuscumbia, and Standard and Times, Sheffield.
She was a member of Friendship Baptist Church, Killen.
She is survived by her children, Charlie Crawford (Melinda), of Florence, Estelle Whitehead, of Muscle Shoals, Mary Ellen Wallace (Mike), of Mexico City, Mexico, Bobby Crawford (Cyndie), of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Carolyn Butler, of Florence, and Teresa McGee, of Killen. Other survivors include 15 grandchildren, Andrew Crawford and Lacey Martin (Cody); Lila Brasili and Lilly Brasili; Emily Whitehead; Hannah Martinez (Mark), Joseph Wallace (Joanna), and Stephen Wallace (Peyton); Madilyn Kornemann (Bayley), Marilee Butler, Breanna Butler and Brady Butler; Jayden McGee, Katilyn McGee and Lauren McGee; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Grandsons will serve as pallbearers.
A special thanks goes to Gentiva Hospice, Florence. Also, a special thanks to all of her sitters: Regina Cole, Sharon Reed, Jessica Abernathy, Hallie Abernathy, Tisha Harden, Brittany Storey, Demetria Bush, Bailey Nipper, Jackie Ratliff and Joanna Corona.
