Charles Warren Crews

Charles Warren Crews, 88, died in Austin, Texas on 17 April, 2024, of heart failure. Warren was born in 1935, in Denver, Colorado to Charles Warren Crews, Sr and Agnes Brierly Crews: a construction worker and a schoolteacher. Warren attended South High School in Denver, where he met his first wife, Carol (Cari) Grant.

Warren began his university education studying engineering at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, in 1953. While in New Mexico he was in the Army ROTC program and also spent a semester as an intern at White Sands Missile Range. He returned to Denver in 1954 where he transferred to the Ritchie School of Engineering at the University of Denver. He graduated from DU in 1957 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.

Meanwhile, Warren and Cari were married in 1956, in Denver. In the summer of 1957 they moved to Los Angeles, where Warren worked briefly as a chemical engineer for the aerospace company Rocketdyne. Their son, Steven was born in September. Near the end of the year Warren was called up to fulfill his two-year military active duty commitment. After a temporary assignment at Fort Monmouth, NJ, they moved to his permanent duty station at Fort Huachuca, in southern Arizona. The couple's first daughter Cathryn (Cathi) was born there.

In late 1959, Lt. Crews was discharged from the Army and spent a number of years working as a technical writer and editor. First in Denver, then in Duluth, Minnesota, where his third child, Mary, was born.

In 1964, an opportunity with the electronics giant Motorola took the young family to Phoenix, Arizona, where they lived for over ten years. Warren started as the editor of an in-house magazine but eventually transitioned to a technical role, working in integrated circuit design and software engineering. In 1975, Warren's family was one of 250 transferred to Austin, Texas to start up the new Motorola plant in Oak Hill. Warren lived in Austin for the rest of his life.

Warren and Cari divorced in 1981. He met and married his second wife, Marjorie Banks, a few years later. Warren and Marge remained a devoted couple until his death.

Warren's interests included nature photography and U.S. travel, especially in the Rocky Mountains, New England and California. He loved sailing, and owned and raced sailboats on Lake Travis for many years.

Warren’s health had been declining since 2022. He entered hospice care, at home with Marge, on 3 April. Her daughter Barbara Neill, and Warren's children Steve and Cathi were with him much of his last few weeks. He died peacefully in his sleep, at home, on 17 April, 2024. He is survived by his wife Marjorie Crews, his ex-wife Cari Bieter and his children (Steven Crews, Cathi Collings and Mary Dalton), as well as 13 grandchildren and great grandchildren. Cremation and a memorial service at All Saints Episcopal church in Austin will take place soon.