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Crown, a former art therapy instructor at the now-defunct College of St. Teresa in Winona, first worked with students who couldn’t deal with emotions in words as a special education teacher.
“These kids were emotionally disturbed,” said her husband, Terry Gresser. “The trouble is they can’t do verbal therapy. Art was a way to help them get through the troubles they had.”
And in the end, art was just another way to get through what would become the struggle of her life — primary peritoneal cancer, a rare form that attacks the peritoneum, the lining around the organs of the abdomen.
Five years ago, doctors gave Crown two years to live — maybe three at the most.
The diagnosis didn’t slow her, even though the ensuing chemotherapy did. She continued teaching art therapy, including a nurses’ training program for Winona State students and a program for doctors at Mayo Clinic.
She taught art therapy in the dual roles of instructor and patient. As she instructed, small tumors formed throughout her abdomen — spraying everywhere, like the mist from a broken spray paint can, said Gresser.
The mother of four continued to fight against the disease and the odds, even though the last several rounds of chemotherapy immobilized her. The last two chemo treatments proved unsuccessful, and when the cancer started to spread, she decided to stop, opting instead to live her life as comfortably as possible, Gresser said.
Crown died July 30.
“It was like she was holding onto the threads as long as she could, so when she couldn’t hold on anymore, she wouldn’t be around long,” he said.
Their life together began more than 30 years ago and read like a movie script.
Gresser got by playing with his band in nightclubs in the Washington, D.C., area in the 1970s.
“She was unimpressed with me,” Gresser said. “It was unusual and a very strange experience, not being able to wow someone while on stage.”
He had to figure out who she was, and his persistence paid off — they spent several nights in a row talking.
“I lied about my age,” he said. “I thought if I told her I was five years younger than she was, she’d dismiss me.”
He eventually came clean.
“I was kind of in the cocoon of the music world, and she sort of woke me up,” he said. “She pulled me out. She didn’t take it away; she just kind of said, ‘Ay little guy. Grow up, boy.’”
She had worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, helping men and women who were having difficulty after the Gulf War.
She secured a job at the College of Saint Teresa in Winona in the late 1980s. She already had one child, Megan, and gave birth to a son, Taylor. When the clan arrived in Minnesota, they adopted two daughters, Daniela and Anna, from Romania and China.
“Her body is gone, but she’s not gone. You carry someone with you forever who was meaningful to you,” Gresser said. “I was lost and she found me.”
