1910 – 1986 (February 26)
Edwin Joseph Crosby was born August 31, 1910 in Troy, New York, to George Crosby and Sara O’Neill. He was baptized September 7, 1910 at Saint Augustine Church, Troy, and there received the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 23, 1921. He received his elementary education at Saint Augustine Parish School, and graduated in 1926 from Catholic Central High School, also in Troy. For a short time he worked as a grocery clerk, before undertaking post-graduate studies as a postulant at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. Ned was received into the novitiate on September 8, 1927. He professed simple vows on September 9, 1928 and solemn vows on September 9, 1931. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Villanova College, Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1932, and from 1932 to 1936 pursued theological studies at Augustinian College, Washington, D.C. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 11, 1935. He did further studies at Catholic University, Washington, DC; University of California, Los Angeles, and at The Aeronautical University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Father Crosby was assigned, in 1936, to Saint Augustine High School, San Diego, California, as a teacher. In 1940 he was transferred to Saint Rita High School, Chicago. When the new Province or Our Mother of Good Counsel was formed in 1941, he was affiliated to that Province.
In 1942 he was assigned to teach at Saint Thomas High School, Rockford, Illinois. He returned in 1948 to Saint Rita High School, Chicago. He was assigned as assistant pastor to Saint Mary Parish, Rockford, in 1957. He was presiding at the noon Mass at Saint Mary Church on February 26, 1986, when, immediately after proclaiming the Gospel, he collapsed and died in the church.
Father Edwin “Ned” Crosby was a gentle and retiring man, noted for his unexpected witty sayings. He is buried in the Augustinian plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.
