Constance Bartow Crocker

Constance B. Crocker of Denver, Colorado, and North Haven, Maine, passed away August 1, 2021 at her home in Denver after a long and fulfilling life. She was beloved by her nieces and nephews as a generous aunt and free spirit. She was a painter, pianist, inveterate reader and diarist, world traveler, and lover of bawdy birthday cards and limericks.

Ms. Crocker's winter home was in Denver, but she made an annual summer pilgrimage to North Haven, staying from June through September. Known as "Connie" to most and "Coco" to her family, Ms. Crocker was an accomplished watercolor artist, painting landscapes and seascapes in Maine, France, and the western U.S.

Ms. Crocker was born July 13, 1927 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, daughter of the late Douglas and Isabelle C. Crocker. She was a 1945 graduate of St. Timothy's School in Maryland, and a 1949 graduate of Radcliffe College. In 1951 she earned a master's degree from the Simmons School of Social Work in Boston.

She worked as a medical social worker first at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary before moving to Denver in the early 1950s, where she was a pediatric medical social worker at then Denver General Hospital (now Denver Health Medical Center) and the University of Colorado Medical Center.

Returning to the east coast in 1960, Ms. Crocker held various administrative positions in New York and Boston, including at the United States Mission to the U.N. and the Boston Center for International Visitors (now WorldBoston). In 1963 she was personal assistant to famed economist Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth. Ms. Crocker returned to live in Denver in 1972.

Her chosen vocation later in life was watercolor painting. Starting seriously in her late 40's she painted hundreds of seascapes and landscapes on and around North Haven, but also excelled at portraits, still lifes, animals, and the human form. She also painted French scenes and those from the Southwest. She took painting classes at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design beginning in 1972, and over the years studied with Denver area artists Jim Valone, Jann Bass, John Lencicki, and Betty De Maree. She also learned from noted watercolorists Charles Reid, Zoltan Szabo, Judy Betts, Frank Webb, and Linda Doll.

Ms. Crocker was a member of the Colorado Watercolor Society, Park Hill Art Club of Denver, Gilpin County Arts Association of Central City, Colorado, and of the Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado. She was also a member of the North Haven Art Association and a longtime trustee of the North Haven Public Library.

With a zest for travel, Ms. Crocker visited Africa in 1960, touring Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. She visited post-World War II Germany in 1947, and while studying in Switzerland at the University of Geneva during her junior year, witnessed final drafting and approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in May 1948. She traveled regularly around the southwestern U.S. and to southern France on painting trips, and in 2001 took a cruise to Antarctica.

Ms. Crocker played both classical and jazz piano, banging out Boogie Woogie for her relatives and friends into her 80s. She also left 40 years of summer diaries recounting each day of her life on North Haven. They run into thousands of pages.

Knowing her appreciation for earthy jokes and materials, her family sent bawdy birthday cards each July 13, which she proudly displayed on her piano. Another favorite past time was to trade laughs over naughty limericks.

She is survived by her sister, Isabelle (Philla) Osborne, of West Cornwall, CT; her niece, Katharine Brengle Gilpin of New York, NY; and nephews, Douglas C. Brengle of Cincinnati, OH; William C. Brengle, Jr. of Camden, ME; and Andrew C. Brengle of Ipswich, MA. She is also survived by five grand nephews, three grand nieces, and two great-grand nieces.

A memorial service will be held during the summer of 2022 on North Haven.