Nancy Louise Crouch

On September 17, 2023, Nancy Louise Canada Crouch traded the trials of this world for the peace and light of heaven.  She leaves behind a deep and lasting impact on her family and a rich community of friends and colleagues. 

She was born September 19, 1942, to Herman and Virginia Canada in Florida where her father was posted during WWII.  The Canadas returned to Dallas where they had deep roots, to raise their family.  After graduating from Dallas’ Kimball High School in 1961, Nancy began her college career at Baylor University. In her first year, she met Ben Crouch. Though their relationship had its ups and downs, they finally committed to making a life together and married in June, 1965.  By 1969, they were in graduate school in Illinois, where Caren was born. In 1971, when Ben had completed a doctorate and Nancy a Master’s degree, he joined the Texas A&M University faculty, and a year later Amy arrived.   

In time, Nancy became a lecturer in the Texas A&M English Department but after a few years of teaching writing to first-year students, she started Home Care Services, a cleaning and janitorial service. She learned how to manage a small business on the fly, and saw it grow over the years. All along, she had a strong, positive influence on the many women who worked for her. The experiences and connections she developed as a businesswoman prompted her to run for a seat on the College Station City Council.  After being elected and serving a term on the Council, she decided to become a candidate in the next mayoral race. Though defeated in that race, she continued to be active in the local Chamber of Commerce and maintained those contacts for years. Her next venture (there was always a next venture) was becoming a sales representative for the international nutrition supplement company, Juice Plus. Again, Nancy rose to the top and when she retired in 2017, she was a National Marketing Director with a sales team from Texas to the east coast.   

But, it was what filled the spaces between these more public roles that defined who she was. Nancy loved the Lord and participated for years in Bible Study Fellowship as she filled many diaries with her prayers and let her faith guide her life.  She was an artist tutored from girlhood by her grandmother and mother, both prize-winning artists, and she leaves many fine pieces of her own art. In addition to her art, she leaves an amazing legacy of motherhood to her two daughters. She used her creativity and her love languages of service and quality time to invest in her girls. Whether she was helping with school projects, attending student events, decorating for parties or staying up late to talk, across the years she could be counted on to show up. Nancy also was a connector of people. She recognized that women, and certainly those in high profile professional or managerial roles, would enjoy interacting socially with other women outside their own fields. So, in 2004, she invited nearly 20 women whom she knew, but who did not necessarily know each other, to come to her home where she proposed that they join her in creating a new organization to be called the FUN Club.  She also loved to entertain in her home whether it was a small dinner party, a club meeting, or the annual Christmas Brunch she and Ben hosted for many years.  And she never said no to seeing new places in the world. Over the years, Nancy and Ben traveled extensively in the U.S. and abroad enjoying cultures, experiences and food.

But mostly she loved her family, children, and grandchildren who will always hold her memory close. In addition to her husband, Ben, she is survived by Caren and Toby Christian (Abilene) and their children: Kinsey Christian Lee and husband Ben (Austin), Kyler Christian (Houston) and Karis Christian (College Station), Amy and David Beard and their children:  Virginia and Thomas (Cypress).  She is also survived by her brother Eddie Canada and wife, Donna (Driftwood).