Aileen Baltazzi Crawford

Aileen Baltazzi Crawford of Scarborough, Maine, died peacefully in her sleep on September 10, 2024, after a brief illness. The daughter of Aileen O'Donnell and Harry Warner Baltazzi of Portsmouth, RI, Aileen was born in New York on June 7, 1930.

She is predeceased by her husband of 27 years, Seth Turner Crawford. She is survived by one sister, Julia LaValle, and her four children, Sam, Alexandra, Hope, and Ian, as well as six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

As the daughter of the US Naval attaché, Aileen lived in Panama where she attended junior college, before studying at the American University in Cairo when her father was posted to Egypt. She moved to Paris in 1952, where she studied art for one year before moving back to New York with her family. She was fluent in multiple languages and worked as a linguist for the Arabic language service of the Voice of America. She married John Sterling (d. 1984), and they lived in Washington, DC, where they raised their 4 children.

Aileen was discovered by the world of needlepoint when she went to the Elegant Needle in DC to buy wool for a project she had designed. She quickly became a sought-after designer and painted custom needlepoint designs for the Washington National Cathedral and Leeds Episcopal Church, as well as personal commissions for the late First Ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan.

Aileen lived in Luxembourg with her second husband, Seth Crawford, in his last posting as a Foreign Service officer before his subsequent retirement to DC, followed by a move to their home in Markham, VA where they were both active in community and environmental activities for close to 20 years.

As a resident of Piper Shores in Scarborough, ME, for the past 12 years, Aileen was active in community gardening and was a devoted supporter of the Scarborough Land Trust. As a lively, outgoing member of the Piper Shores community, she participated in birding, water volleyball, bridge and watercolor painting. Her charm, wit, and energy will be missed by all.

A funeral mass will be held at Saint Maximilian Kolbe Church in Scarborough, ME at 10 AM on Saturday, October 5th, followed by a memorial reception at Piper Shores. Burial will be at a later date in Randolph, Massachusetts. Family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the  Scarborough Land Trust scarboroughlandtrust.org or So Others May Eat some.org