Point Reyes Light - February 15, 2001
Forest Knolls barkeeper meets accidental death
By Stephen Barrett
San Geronimo Valley resident Ann Marie Crowley, a popular bartender at the Papermill Creek Saloon and former director of Wild Oats Community Market in San Anselmo, died last week from an apparent accident at her Forest Knolls home. Ms. Crowley was 32.
The landlord of the building where she lived on Juarez Avenue at 11:50 a.m. Tuesday found her body stuck halfway through a bathroom window when he went to the building to serve eviction papers on another tenant. She was known to use the window to reach her apartment when she was locked out.
Ms. Crowley was well known within the Bay Area health food community through her long employment at Wild Oats, where she started as a deli clerk in Berkeley and finished nearly 10 years later as director of the firm’s San Anselmo market.
Co-workers this week recalled Ms. Crowley as immensely popular with fellow employees, suppliers, and competitors alike. Kathy Burgin, a regional director for Wild Oats who worked with Ms. Crowley in San Anselmo, credited the Forest Knolls woman’s success to a combination of intelligence and compassion.
‘Smart & tough’
"She made a mark for herself in an industry that’s tough for a woman to carve out a place in," said Burgin. "She was a smart woman; she was tough; she was a benevolent leader."
Those same qualities made her a popular bartender at the Papermill Creek Saloon, where she started working last year after leaving the grocery business. Thomasina Wilson, owner of the Papermill Creek Saloon, said Ms. Crowley had an uncanny gift for making friends quickly and easily.
"If you met her once, you fell in love with her," Wilson said. "She was so nice. She was that kind of girl."
Burgin remembered Ms. Crowley as a devout Catholic, proud of her Irish and Italian heritage, who was full of mischief and contagious laughter.
Family in Chicago
Born and raised in River Forest, Illinois, Ms. Crowley moved to the Bay Area after her high school graduation to join a pair of girlfriends. She quickly adopted the region as her home, said her sister Gina Cervone in Chicago.
"You know, she liked it so much that she didn’t want to come back," said Cervone, who laughingly recalled Ms. Crowley’s divided loyalties whenever the San Francisco 49ers played football against the Chicago Bears. "She loved it [in Chicago] because her family was here, but her heart was there."
"To quote one of her friends," Cervone added with a laugh, "she just loved those f--king trees."
Ms. Crowley is survived by her sister and brother, Frank Crowley, both of Chicago. A memorial service for Ms. Crowley was held at Chapel of the Hills in San Anselmo on Saturday, Feb. 10.
The family requests that any memorial gifts be sent to Leukemia Society of America, Northern California Chapter for Children, 1390 Market St., San Francisco, 94102.