Lorinne Carson Crawford (1912-2010) was -in addition to being beautiful- phenomenally intelligent. Nobody would've thought that she'd pursue a modeling career. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa to DeWitt and Cora Crawford. She and her sister, Maxine, attended Roosevelt High School, where they were outstanding students. Lorinne graduated from Northern Iowa University with ambitions of being a teacher. Her life took another direction when she entered a pageant judged by Bing Crosby.
She was crowned "Queen of the May" in 1934 and moved to Hollywood at the urging of Bing. While there, she appeared in several movies. She gave up modeling after marrying Frank Thomas, devoting her life to her family. She raised five children and furthered her education at the University of Southern California where she wrote a thesis titled A Study of Observable Aspects of Behavior in Preschool Deaf Children and Exploration of Relationship of These Behaviors to Lip Reading Progress. She taught def students, preferring that they learn lip reading rather than sign language.
Her life was more adventurous than it had been during her days as a model. She traveled the world with her husband, living in the United Kingdom and briefly settling in New Zealand due to fears of nuclear war. She moved to Old Mystic, Connecticut, which became her permanent home. She died peacefully on March 18, 2010 at the age of 97. She was survived by her five children, eight grand-children and eight great-grand-children.
"Give me a plain man with character and intelligence." -Lorinne Crawford
50s
Lorraine
