Since her father was in the United States Navy, she lived in several places during her youth, most notably Honolulu, Hawaii. She was in the third grade there on December 7, 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She attended George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1954 and from graduate school at Emory University in 1955. She taught fourth and fifth grades in Atlanta from 1955 to 1960 when she and her husband moved to Rome and began raising their family. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church.
She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Dr. Hendrick Lafayette Cromartie Jr., son, Hendrick Lafayette Cromartie III, daughters, Caroline Cromartie Higgins and Catherine Cromartie Norris and grandchildren, Catherine Elyse Higgins, Anthony Boone Higgins III, William Hendrick Norris, Emma Frances Cromartie and Hendrick Lafayette Cromartie IV.
