Ruby Marie Crawford

Family-Placed Death Notice

CRAWFORD, Ruby RUBY MARIE CRAWFORD Ruby Marie Crawford - Banker, Attorney, Accountant and Realtor - went to be with her beloved Lord on June 6, 2009. Daughter of the late William Hampton and Elizabeth Lois Gray Crawford, she was born in Temple, Georgia, but had made Atlanta her home for the last 65 years. She and her twin sister, Ruth, maintained homes in Temple, Atlanta and a beach home on Jekyll Island. She spent more than 33 years in a banking career at First National Bank of Atlanta (now Wachovia), where she and her twin were named outstanding bank women in the United States. During their banking career, the American Bankers Association launched its own Public Relations programs throughout the United States and chose them to appear on many radio and TV programs in New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, San Diego, California, and Mexico, urging people to choose banking as a career. They have also appeared as guest panelists on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago and stumped the panel on "What's My Line?" in New York City. They are listed in various editions of "Who's Who in America" and have been the recipients of many honors locally and nationally. Ruby worked for many years staffing conventions for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and, also, the Visitor Information desks at Peachtree Center and Lenox Square. After taking early retirement from banking, she chose another career with Northside Realty at West Paces Ferry Road as Sales Associate and won a Humanitarian of the Year award and was a member of the "Million Dollar Club." She was active in many business, religious, professional, civic and political endeavors and was a member of various organizations for the betterment of the city of Atlanta. She served as a Docent at the Jimmy Carter Library and was a member of the original "Peanut Brigade," having campaigned for Jimmy Carter in many states. Ruby was a charter member and past President of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Society of Women Accountants and won the National Trophy given by the American Women's Society of Certified Public Accountants as the most outstanding chapter in the United States during her presidency. She was also past President of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, the Delta Sigma Gamma Legal Sorority, the Georgia Twin Association, the Quarter-Century Club of the First National Bank and the Wachovia Bank Retirement Club. Ruth and Ruby were often chosen as the most identical twins in their age category in the Georgia Twins Association, and also in the International Twins Association, which they attended for many years. Ruby's hobbies included dogs, gardening and growing lovely flowers, cooking and entertaining, ceramics, china and oil painting, music, theater and the arts, sports and especially fishing and baseball. She and her twin had beautiful white twin poodles, named Kandi and Kisses, but she loved all dogs. Ruby and her twin have been featured in many articles and stories in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Magazine, the Georgia Bar Journal, the American Bar Association Journal, the National Inquirer, Stern magazine (Germany) and many various newspapers publications in major U.S. cities. They are featured in a chapter in the book "Southern Belle Primer, or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Make Kappa Kappa Gamma," entitled, "The Moonlight and Magnolia Crawford Twins," written by Maryln Schwartz, syndicated columnist for the Dallas Morning News. They were honored by their selection as "Most Gracious Ladies of Georgia" 30 years ago and honored annually by the Court of Gracious Ladies in Columbus, Georgia. They were presented with the Deen Day Smith "Tribute to Service Award" for their many contributions of service to others. Ruth and Ruby filmed a documentary on "Lost Atlanta - The Way We Were" for Georgia Public Television, appeared as extras in "The Last Surviving Confederate Widow Tells All" and had supporting roles in a movie filmed on Jekyll Island entitled "Jekyll - No Place to Hyde." Ruby loved the Lord and her church and was most active at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, serving in many capacities, including the Buckhead Christian Ministry and feeding the hungry and homeless in the city. She was a member of the administrative board, served as an usher and greeter, money counter, Honorary Steward, Stephens Minister, Flower Guild and many other committees. Ruby and Ruth were inducted into the Atlanta Convention and visitors Bureau "Hospitality Hall of Fame," the first women to be so honored, and their portraits are hanging permanently in the Georgia World Congress Center Hall of Fame. They also were honored by Channel 11 WXIA-TV, receiving the Atlanta Community Service Award. The twins were famous as enthusiastic spectators at the annual Peachtree Road Race on the Fourth of July for many years with their white poodles, dressed in red, white and blue, cheering on all the thousands of participants. Ruby attended Draughons' School of Commerce and Georgia State College and received all her banking certificates from the American Institute of Banking, with majors in trust and investments. She received her LL.B. and J.D. degrees from the Atlanta Law School. The late Mayor William B. Hartsfield, a dear friend, referred to the twins as the "twenty-four hour Crawford Twins", who spent every moment helping others, and said the reason Rome was not built in a day was because they were not there. Noted for their great sense of humor, they lived by the Golden Rule, always putting others first instead of self. They loved people, especially the elderly, and believed you could never have too many friends, saying that a stranger was just a friend they had not met yet! In 1967 Ruby was selected to appear in the 1967 edition of Outstanding Civic Leaders of America, "in recognition of her outstanding ability, accomplishments and service to community, country, and profession". She was very active in Chamber of Commerce work, serving in several official capacities in the Women's Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta, as President of the Southeastern Conference of Women in Chamber of Commerce, in which capacity she was honored by Governor Orval Faubus by being named an "Arkansas Traveler," or Ambassador of Good Will for the state of Arkansas, the second woman to be named, and was the first woman ever to serve on the Board of Directors of the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce. She was also honored by being selected to serve on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Committee and Women in Public Affairs for three years. She was a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, where she served as President, the Estate Planning Council. The Georgia Association for Women Lawyers honored Ruth and Ruby by naming their scholarship the "Ruth and Ruby Crawford Foundation Scholarship Award," and after Ruth's death, this year Ruby was honored by the Association with the highest and most prestigious award given by the Association, the Kathleen Kessler Award. In 2008, she was named a Fellow in the American Bar Association, in recognition of her leadership in and contribution to the legal profession. Among the organizations and clubs she actively supported were the Buckhead Christian Ministry, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the High Museum of Art, the Buckhead Club, Atlanta Symphony, the Democratic Party, the Atlanta Humane Society, where she has been elected to serve as a Director for thirty-five years. Miss Crawford served as Law Instructor for the American Institute of Banking for 16 years, was a guest lecturer at Emory on Estate Planning, taught law courses at "Evening at Emory" for a number of years, "Law for the Layman" for the YWCA, and was guest lecturer in New York at the Kennedy-Sinclair Trust Institute. She also taught Parliamentary Procedure to numerous groups. Ruby and her deceased twin, Ruth, are the subjects of a book being published this fall by Kennesaw University, entitled "Running on Full," and were in the process of writing their own book. She loved being a twin and felt that God had blessed them in a special way. In fact, they felt "sorry" for anyone who was not a twin. They became lawyers when it was not popular for women to be lawyers, having given up on being doctors, which was their real desire in life, and as fifty-eight (58) year member of the Georgia Bar Association, filmed a documentary "Seventy-five Year History of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers." They were known as the "Trail Blazers" for women in law and in banking in Georgia. They dearly loved Atlanta, and told everyone who would listen, that "when you live in Atlanta, Heaven can wait." Ruby and her twin sister, Ruth, were just recently notified that they have been selected to be the first inductees in the "Hall of Fame of Jekyll Island"being established there. She and her twin sister were named Phenomenal Women by Kennesaw State University in 2004, and their stained glass picture hangs in the senior citizen home, Helene Miller, on John Wesley Dobbs Avenue. They were givers and not takers, and they believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive. They believe that what you have in life is what you give. They were known for their generosity and kindness to people and for their loving spirits, their lives serving as an inspiration to others. They simply wanted to "make a difference" in the world and to make it a better place for others for their having lived. In addition to a host of loving friends, Ruby is survived by sister, Joan Crawford, and a nephew, Dayton Crawford, both of Douglasville. Time and date for the memorial services at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta will be announced when they are finalized. Friends will be received at a reception following the service in the Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of Ruby Crawford to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30305; or to The Atlanta Humane Society, 981 Howell Mill Road, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30310; or to Buckhead Christian Ministries, 2847 Piedmont Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30305; or to the American Cancer Society, Southeastern Division, 2200 Lake Blvd., N.E., Atlanta, Ga 30319; or to Feed The Hungry.