Nancy Swanner Crowther

Nancy Louise Swanner Crowther, born on the 1st of January 1931 in Youngstown, Ohio to Raleigh Phillip (“RP”) Swanner and Hannah (“Petie”) Louisa Matilda Peterson Swanner, passed away peacefully in her home in Houston, Texas on Thursday, the 6th of March 2025. She was 94 years of age.

Nancy was a 1948 graduate of Boardman High School and a 1952 graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she met her future husband, James Earl Crowther. They were married on the 28th of November 1953. After the conclusion of her husband’s military service and his subsequent graduation from the University of Michigan Law School, they moved their young family to Houston, Texas to establish a home and life in the growing city. She guided and supported her husband as his legal and business career developed; assisted in a variety of his professional undertakings; and was a dedicated parent, volunteer, and homemaker.

She was an avid newsreader, skilled embroiderer, sports fan (especially tennis), and collector - of the miniature, artisanal, and whimsical - from stamps to paperweights to Peanuts comic strips. This included a special passion for traditional American design and furniture. She both fostered and drew from the interests of her sons in all her activities. Nancy was also a longtime supporter of numerous Houston institutions and her Alpha Sigma Chapter of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, including serving for many years as its District Alumnae Chairman.

Mrs. Crowther is survived by her son Robert Phillip Crowther and his wife Kathy of Anchorage, Alaska; her son Paul William Crowther of Seattle, Washington; her grandchildren Cassandra Crowther Quinn and husband Matt of Austin, Texas, Nicholas James Crowther and wife Raina Gilyard-Crowther of Austin, Texas, John James Crowther, Andrew Scott Crowther, and William Robert Crowther all of Anchorage, Alaska; and her great grandchildren Raleigh J. Crowther and Alister B. Crowther. She was lovingly cared for at the end of her life by Sophia Robertson of Houston, Texas.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her son Richard Scott Crowther of Giddings, Texas, and her older sister Bonita Jean Swanner Rosenberger of Louisville, Kentucky.

Friends are cordially invited to greet the family during a visitation from twelve o’clock noon on Thursday, the 13th of March, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where the Funeral Service is to commence at two o’clock.

Immediately following, via escorted cortege, the interment will be at Forest Park Westheimer in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions, in Nancy’s memory, may be directed to the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation online by visiting Giving Opportunities - Alpha Chi Omega.

Please visit Mrs. Crowther’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com to share words of comfort and condolence with her family by selecting the “Add a Memory” icon.