Kathy Crozier Newell died in the waters off of Guam on May 6, 2009 while scuba diving. She was 56. Kathy was born on July 13, 1952 in Cottonwood to Bruce and Margaret Crozier and lived most of her life in Flagstaff, She graduated from Flagstaff High School in 1970 and attended Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, finishing her BS degree in Elementary Education at Northern Arizona University. She went on to complete a Masters degree in Bilingual, Multicultural Education with special endorsements in ESL. She began her teaching career at Page Middle School, but spent most of her career at South Beaver Elementary School teaching kindergarten, primary and intermediate grades. She specialized in teaching limited language students to read. Kathy retired from the classroom in 2005, turning her attention to leadership roles at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church organizing Church education curriculum. She also continued as a volunteer for Flagstaff Public Schools with the high school Speech and Debate teams.
Kathy has spent nearly two years as a volunteer instructor at Pacific Islands Bible College in Guam teaching Methods in Education to increase the opportunities for Micronesian future teachers and Christian pastors. She is survived by her father Bruce Crozier; daughters Leilani Ritchie, Colorado Springs, CO and Laurinda Turnage, Phoenix; two grandchildren, Maya and Aidan Ritchie. She was preceded in death by her mother, Margaret Hutchison Crozier.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday May 16, at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church (ELCA) 1601 N. San Francisco St with reception to follow in Benson Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation be made to the Camp Colton project through Flagstaff Unified School District.