Mary Crouch
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Mary Kay Crouch, an English professor at California State University, Fullerton, died on Jan. 21, 2008, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif., after a short illness. She was 65.
Born in Du Quoin to Catherine (Knetzger) and James "Nick" Crouch on Oct. 10, 1942, she was one of three children. Mary Kay attended Sacred Heart School and graduated from Du Quoin High School in 1960. She received a bachelor's degree in Latin from SIU Carbondale in 1964 and began teaching Latin and English at Alton High School. While in Alton, she met Steven Tirrell, whom she married in 1967 (they later divorced). Her daughter, Ursula (Tirrell) Bohen, was born in 1971. The family lived in Florissant, Mo., until October 1974, when they moved to Fountain Valley, Calif.
Mary Kay received a master of arts degree in English from California State University, Long Beach, and a doctorate in English from the University of Southern California. She joined the English department at California State University, Fullerton in 1981. In addition to teaching composition and literature courses, Mary Kay held several administrative positions, including coordinator of the Writing Center and director of the Teaching Associate Program in English. She also worked with the university's Asian Studies program and traveled several times to China, Vietnam and other countries in Asia as part of a delegation from the university.
Mary Kay is survived by her daughter; two sisters, Carole Parker of San Antonio, Texas, and Sandy Kowzan of Du Quoin; and Sandy's children, Jim, Leslie and Ross Kowzan. Mary Kay was preceded in death by her parents and one son in infancy.
Funeral Services will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 7, 2008, at Sacred Heart Church in Du Quoin with Msgr. Harry Jerome officiating. Interment will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Du Quoin.
Memorial donations may be made to SIU Foundation, Attn: Tanna Morgan, 1235 Douglas Drive, Mail Code 6805, Carbondale, IL 62901.