Carrie L. Crossley

Born in Conway, South Carolina on November 3, 1946, Libby graduated from Myrtle Beach High School and moved to Florida during the mid-1960s space race, working as an administrative assistant at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the John F. Kennedy Space Center near Titusville and Cape Canaveral. She married Walter Crossley in 1965, a street-smart kid from New Jersey who knew his way around the restaurant business and joined him in owning and operating the IHOP Restaurant on A1A in Cocoa Beach. Libby was a familiar, welcoming face there to tourists and locals for more than three decades.

Libby would help anyone or any organization she could with her time and resources. She was giving, kind and caring, serving in leadership positions for organizations and causes such as Life Flight, the Brevard Alzheimer's Foundation, the annual Walk for Life for breast cancer, Merritt Island youth sports leagues and the Brevard County work release program.

She held nearly every volunteer and leadership position available in Beta Sigma Phi, her international, non-collegiate sorority. Through her service, she formed lifelong bonds with sisters who became part of her extended family, with whom she enjoyed many activities, including conventions, dances and cruises, exemplifying their motto of “life, learning and friendship.”

Libby wanted only to help people, to make the world better in whatever way she could. It never occurred to her not to—it was her purpose in life to give, to help, to support others. She leaves behind her a legacy of compassion, caring and love in the hundreds of lives she has touched.

She is predeceased by her husband, Walter Dale Crossley, and her parents Henry M. Mcdowell and Mildred V. Clark. Survived by her daughter Tanya Stewart (Gregg), her son Dale Crossley (Marcy) and her stepdaughter Debbie Meyers (Paul); her loving partner Bobby Hernandez and his daughter Angela Hernandez; her brother Henry “Buddy” McDowall (Phyllis); and 12 grandchildren and five great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

The family would like to offer heartfelt gratitude to the following caregivers who made Libby’s days more comfortable and joyous: Naketa, Tati, Alexis, Davion, Motavis and Shon.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 10 a.m. at Wylie-Baxley Funeral Home, 1360 N. Courtney Parkway, Merritt Island, Florida 32953.