Charlotte Elise McCraw shared a life well lived. Charlotte was born on January 10, 1940, in Amarillo, Texas to John O. and Katherine Hamilton Vitz. The Vitz family was a pioneer Panhandle family which had lived in Dumas, Texas, through the Great Dust Storms and the Great Depression. Charlotte was named after her mother’s sister and father’s twin sister. She had three brothers and a childhood neighbor, Jeannie Corbin Bennett, who became a lifelong friend, closer than a sister.
Charlotte, a child of the 1950’s, was a high school cheerleader, Miss Moore County and America’s Wheat Heart. She attended North Texas State and graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in English and a teacher’s certificate. During college she worked as a secretary for the Dean of Women, was selected a college beauty and she was a member of Delta Gamma Sorority.
After college, she first taught school in Dumas. Then, with the assistance of her Aunt Elise, Charlotte found a job teaching school in Irving, Texas, for the 1963-1964 school year. That summer, SMU law student John L. McCraw, Jr. stopped by a friend’s house in Dumas, Texas, where his friend’s father, Ralph McClellan, informed John that Charlotte had moved to the Dallas area, and instructed John to make sure that Charlotte met “some nice people”. John complied with the instructions, and on August 8, 1964, they were married. Two weeks, later they moved to Ft. Bliss, Texas where John was serving in the U.S. Army and Charlotte became an “Army wife”. John was assigned to Korea where he served in the U. S. Army for a year on an unaccompanied tour. Charlotte began studying Master’s Degree classes at Texas Tech University where she taught freshman English as a graduate assistant. During this time, two of her brothers were also attending Texas Tech and she established even stronger bonds with them, their wives and their children.
After the Army service was completed, the McCraws moved to McKinney, Texas, and started a law practice. Charlotte ran the office, did all secretarial work, including helping to refinish and refurbish furniture for the office. In June of 1967, they were blessed with the first of four children. Thereafter, children and family were foremost to Charlotte. She was an active member of the First Christian Church in McKinney. She served on the church Board which worked to establish Mother’s Day Out, which would later become Crossing Point Christian School. She also chaired the committee which selected and installed the church’s pipe organ and enjoyed singing in the church choir. Charlotte was President of the Board of the Heard-Craig Woman’s Club Trust, working to repair the Heard Craig House and to build the annex, both of which remain in use today. In earlier days, she was an active member of the McKinney Garden Club, John Abston Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Jeanne D’Arc Woman’s club.
Charlotte was a compassionate caregiver, rearing and educating four children, giving support to her widowed mother for more than 30 years, and caring for her husband, John, through two bouts of cancer. She loved all handmade cloth art, but she mostly loved quilting. She enjoyed collecting cookbooks and testing various interesting recipes.
Upon hearing of Charlotte’s death, a high school friend and co-worker stated “She was a beautiful person and was just as sweet as she was pretty”. Charlotte will be greatly missed.
She passed this life on May 3, 2023. She was survived by her husband of almost 59 years, four children: John L. (Lin) McCraw, III and wife Suzy; Mark McCraw and wife Piper; Katherine McCraw; Chris McCraw and wife Christi; and eleven grandchildren, Jacob McCraw, Coleson McCraw and fiancé Grace, Wilson McCraw, Aiden Stickney, Quinn McCraw, Elliott McCraw, John Gore, Adeline Gore, Sawyer Gore, Macie McCraw, Mattson McCraw; and sisters in law Judy Vitz of McKinney, Texas, Betty Vitz of Lubbock, Texas and Betsy Gantt of Dallas, Texas.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers, John Charles Vitz, William Hamilton Vitz, and James Todd Vitz.
A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, May 7, 2023, at the First Christian Church in McKinney, Texas, followed by a burial at the IOOF Cemetery, Farmersville, Texas. Family and friends are also invited to the funeral home at their convenience on Saturday to pay their respects and to sign the register book.