Jeanne M. McDonald Craig

Craig, Jeanne M. McDonald CLIFTON PARK Jeanne M. McDonald Craig of Clifton Park passed away on May 26, 2014. She was born in Rochester, the daughter of the late Alexander J. and Florence A. Shockow McDonald. She attended Holy Cross School and Nazareth Academy in Rochester and was a graduate of Vincentian Institute in Albany. She attended the College of New Rochelle and Siena College. She is survived by her husband Edward Craig whom she married in June 1947. She was very active in the Schenectady Dog Training Club in the 1970's as a student, teacher and president of the club. She, and their youngest son, Bill, went to Monrovia, Liberia, when her husband was on leave from Union College in 1979-80. She joined the American Women in Liberia (AWIL) and was active in raising money for scholarships for Liberian children. Many of the members of AWIL were wives of the ambassadors from almost all the countries that had embassies in Liberia. Jeanne worked with the ambassadors' wives, teaching them aquacizes at the embassy pool, studying French with them taught by the wife of the French ambassador, and visiting the embassies in Monrovia. She was an expert gardener and, on one occasion while in the British Embassy in Monrovia, she observed aloud that their garden was overgrown. She told them what to do to correct the situation and she was immediately appointed consultant to the head gardener of the embassy. On a subsequent leave (1989-90) she and her husband were living in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. She joined the International Friendship Club (IFC) there, whose objectives were very similar to those of AWIL. She joined the Philanthropic group in IFC and raised money for scholarships for Puerto Rican students. She was a lector, Eucharistic minister, and a member of the funeral choir at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park. She is the mother of Theresa A. Glunz of Winchester, Mass., David E. Craig of Day, N.Y., Stephen R. and Virginia Jonczak Craig of Raleigh, N.C., Anita M. and Paul Cummings of Yucaipa, Calif. and William P. and Christine Martiniano Craig of Wakefield, R.I. Survivors also include her brothers, Alexander J. of Menands, and Raymond F. of Springfield, Va.; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Edward the Confessor Church, Clifton Park Center Rd., Clifton Park. Calling hours will be held in the funeral home on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. Burial will be held in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted by the family to the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home, 1550 Route 9, Clifton Park.