Eleanor Jane Crawford Uehling

Eleanor Jane Crawford Uehling died peacefully on Saturday, October 11, 2014 in Traverse City, Michigan. She was eighty-eight. Her death was due to complications of old age.

Eleanor Jane was born in 1926 near Johnstown, PA. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University, where she met her first husband, John Stuart Crawford (of Pittsburgh, PA). They moved to Wisconsin and there they had five children. The Crawford family spent every summer at their log cabin on Big Platte Lake in Honor, MI.

Seven years after John Crawford died, Eleanor Jane married Robert Uehling of Madison, WI. After his death she moved permanently to Empire, MI. She had been a resident of Leelanau County since 1997.

Eleanor Jane lived a full and rich life. She was an accomplished Landscape Architect and Artist. She participated in landscaping two Frank Lloyd Wright properties and designed a native plant arboretum in the UP.

Eleanor Jane loved to garden and beautified every landscape she touched. She and her husband John (an attorney and three-term Assemblyman representing Wood County, WI) shared a love of nature. In dedication to the husband she loved, Eleanor Jane designed a woodland garden, part of the Allen Memorial Gardens at the UW-Madison.

Eleanor Jane was passionate about her country. She was very active in the Republican Women of Leelanau County and in the Traverse City chapter of the DAR.

Surviving are her five beloved children, Eleanor Jane (Peter Blitzer, MD) Crawford Blitzer, MD; Katharine (Ron Robey, JD) Crawford Robey JD; Melissa Ann Crawford Kotas; John (Piper) Stuart Crawford MD; and Helen (Brent McDermott MD) Crawford-McDermott, MD. Also surviving her are her twelve grandchildren: John (Renee) Blitzer; Eleanor Jane (Alex Street) Blitzer; Amy (Derek Olson) Blitzer; Mary (Tom Murray) Crawford-Murray; Grace Crawford Blitzer; Katharine Lucille Robey; Captain John (Nicole) Warren Robey; Alana and Emily McDermott; Jack (Shirin) Crawford, James, and Jacob Crawford. Her three great grandchildren are Julia Robey, Jack Blitzer Street and Peter Blitzer.

The funeral is scheduled for Friday, October 17, 2014, at 1:00 PM, at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 8190 Lincoln Road, Beulah, MI 49617. Memorials may be made to the Republican Women of Leelanau County, c/o Janie Graham, 15555 Pearl Lane Dr., Empire, MI 49630 or to the St Andrews Presbyterian Church.