Obituary of Kathryn Crotts

Kathryn Cook Crotts, 74, of Hillsborough, N.C., entered Heaven with Jesus Christ on Sunday, February 26, 2023.

A Christian with a strong faith, she was a member of First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Burlington, N.C. Mrs. Crotts was born on December 27, 1948, in Augusta, Ga., the daughter of the late Conway Haguewood Cook and Eliza Hibben Leland Hills Cook. She was a graduate of Augusta College.

Kathryn will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 49 years, the Reverend Stephen Michael Crotts, three children, Claire Crotts Alley (Grieg), of Wilmington, Reverend Bryan Patrick Crotts (Amanda), of Burlington, and David Stephen Crotts (Kathryn), of McLean, VA, nine grandchildren, George Hampton Alley, of El Paso, Texas, William Beckett Alley and Henry Hills Alley, of Raleigh, Carolyn Elizabeth Crotts, Joseph Patrick Crotts and Martha Ann Crotts, of Burlington, Charles Keppen Crotts, Thomas Cook Crotts and James Wingfield Crotts, of McLean, VA, and three siblings, Marian Cook Guill, Fredrick Hills Cook (Diane) and Elizabeth Cook Pitts. She was predeceased by her parents, her father and mother-in-law, George and Elizabeth Crotts, and brothers-in-law, J.C. Guill and Alan Pitts.

Kathryn taught English before her children were born, and at Williams High School later on. Kathryn was known for her beautiful white hair, quick wit, kind brown eyes and willingness to open her home to many over the years.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 11:00 AM at First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 2250 Saddle Club Road, Burlington, N.C. by the Reverend Steve Ellis. The family will receive friends at First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at a luncheon of thanksgiving for Kathryn’s life directly after the funeral service. There will be time for sharing and reminiscence. Burial will precede the service and be private at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Hillsborough, N.C.

In lieu of flowers, please help a student buy their textbooks, take someone lonely out to lunch, or if you so desire, you may donate to the campus ministry Kathryn served alongside her husband, Carolina Study Center, at 3110 Carriage Trail Hillsborough, NC 27278.

 In this time of bereavement, the family would like to thank friends and family for their kindness, prayers, and care of us–neighbors who brought meals, friends who sent so many cards, cousins who prayed and sent their love from afar and nurses who gently ministered to Kathryn during her illness.

Our hope remains in the resurrected Christ who said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We may laugh together yet.”

Walker's Funeral Home of Hillsborough is assisting the Crotts family.