Edna Dix Crocker

Edna "Eddie" Dix Crocker, a teacher who used creative dramatics, her bilingual training and science to inspire elementary and middle school students in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Colorado, died on December 9, 2025. She was 89. She passed away peacefully at Kensington Park Senior Living. The cause of death was Alzheimer's Disease. At her side was her beloved husband of 67 years, David A. Crocker, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland. She was known for her radiant spirit, sense of adventure, concern for others, and playful sense of humor.

Early in her adult life, Eddie knew success in college and community theater. As a senior at DePauw University, she played Emily Webb in Our Town. In 1970, she directed an outdoor rock production of Lysistrata at Colorado State University. Her theatrical work led to her career as a teacher of drama, creative dramatics, reading, and English as a Second Language in northern Colorado in the 1970s and 1980s. Her excellent Spanish and work in bilingual education were furthered by extended stays in Costa Rica. After moving to University Park, MD in 1993, she taught in Washington and Prince George's County. In 2006, she founded the mentoring program Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS), for which she received the county's Academic & Community Engagement Award in 2012.

Eddie was born in Wooster, Ohio in 1936. Her father, Raymond E. Dix, was publisher of The Daily Record. Her mother, Carolyn Gustafson Dix, was a trustee at The College of Wooster. At DePauw, she was a Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated in 1958 with honors in English Literature and received an MA in Philosophy in 1969. She met Dave at college, and they married in 1958. A year later, they moved to New Haven, CT, where Dave was a Ph.D. student in Religious Studies at Yale University. Eddie raised their two daughters, Cathy and Amanda, while taking classes at the Divinity School and acting at the Yale Dramat. The family drove west in 1966 to Fort Collins, CO, where Dave taught philosophy at CSU and Eddie received her MA in theater arts in 1971. A son, Davey, was born in 1972. Eddie and Dave lived in Germany with their three children, in Costa Rica with their son. From 1993 to 2019, Dave's work in international development ethics at UMD took them to Spain, Peru, Morocco, Chile, and Colombia. Summers were spent at their lake cottage in Ontario, Canada, where Eddie loved canoeing with Dave and watching the sunset from the porch.

In addition to her husband, Eddie is survived by their three children, Catherine Crocker, of Larchmont, NY; Amanda Martocchio, of New Canaan, CT; and David Peter Crocker, of University Park, MD; and three grandchildren. Burial will be private.