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Monrovia mourns for former Councilwoman Gloria Crudgington
Monrovia Weekly Sep 28, 2024
Gloria Crudgington. | Photo courtesy of the city of Monrovia
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Former Monrovia Councilwoman Gloria Crudgington died Wednesday on her 75th birthday, her family and friends announced.
Crudgington passed away peacefully in her Monrovia home with her husband of 47 years Cleve at her side. For six years she battled multiple system atrophy, or MSA, a very rare and fatal neurological disease that slowly reduced her strength and vitality.
Crudgington retired from the City Council in March after serving for nine years following 12 years on the Community Services Commission, and the city honored her work and legacy with a renamed public building. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Crudgington Station was held Sept. 12 with Gloria in attendance.
“Crudgington Station will stand as a lasting tribute to Gloria’s efforts to preserve Monrovia and ensure it’s a better place for future generations,” according to a statement from her family.
“Gloria was a champion for Monrovia, and her dedication to the City was remarkable,” City Manager Dylan Feik wrote in his weekly newsletter.
Crudgington was active in the Monrovia community since moving there in the 1970s, and her “impact in Monrovia was profound,” Feik said. “She supported the City’s historic preservation effort and was the liaison for ‘all-things-stormwater.’ Gloria was also involved in the City’s largest infrastructure project, Monrovia Renewal.”
Feik also noted the key highlight of Crudgington’s legacy — “the immense undertaking of her effort to preserve the 1,450 acres of open space now known as the Monrovia Wilderness Preserve,” the city manager wrote. “She knocked on nearly every door to educate residents and ensure that Monrovians voted on Measure A&B to create a property tax that raised $10 million to purchase the hillsides. Her dedication and achievements serve as an inspiration for us all.”
Born Gloria Stokus on Sept. 25, 1949, in Oak Park, Illinois, Crudgington moved to Los Angeles in 1977 where she worked in the apparel industry. She and Cleve married in 1978, and the couple moved to Monrovia’s Myrtle Court a year later.
Crudgington received a bachelor of arts degree from Vassar College in New York and in 1984 she earned a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, which she practiced in Pasadena for 30 years.
A public Celebration of Life event is scheduled to take place 10 a.m. Oct. 10 at Live Oak Memorial Park in the on-site chapel, 200 E. Duarte Road. A reception will follow at the Monrovia Community Center’s Kay Dalton room, 119 E. Palm Ave.
In lieu of flowers, the family requested donations to either the Monrovia Parks, Wilderness, and Recreation Foundation or the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group.
