Sylvia Mary Cribb

Visitation for Sylvia Cribb will be held at Dorman Funeral Home on Monday, February 6, 2023 at 5:00PM with services following at 6:30PM.
 

To honor Sylvia's life, the following obituary was lovingly written by her daughter, Christine;

Sylvia Mary (Dupuy) Cribb passed away Sunday, January 29th at 8:48 pm in Orange Texas, surrounded by her loving family.  To me, heaven cried too because when she was dying all hell broke loose and it poured down rain. 

This Obituary is not about a fancy woman, an educated woman, or a woman of social standing this woman didn’t do anything that society would say “oh look what all she did” … This is an obit about someone of much higher worth! She was a MOM and I never wanted to write this obit for one of the most PRECIOUS people that has ever lived in my opinion AND who has had the WORTHIEST and NOBELEST JOB in the world, we called her “mama” the rest of you called her Mrs. Cribb or Sylvia.  

She was born August 1st 1938 in Marksville La. She was married to my father Gary Louis Cribb for 66 years until he passed on January 10, 2022.  

Mama was studying to be a Nun! She was going to dedicate her life to God.  

At a get-together, she meet Daddy and they married on June 4th, 1956, right here in Orange Texas. 

 Mom and Dad had 4 Children. Dad was in the Navy and was posted in Beeville Texas (Ella) and then he was in Minneapolis Minnesota (Christine and Jeff) back in Orange came the “Boo-boo” (Ilan) And we were a handful!! The oldest Ella L. (Cribb) Mulhollan, Christine J. (Cribb) Vermeulen Hanchey, Jeffery L. Cribb and finally Ilan (Boo-boo) Cribb… (You can guess where the boo boo came from).  

She was a tiny woman with shoes on and standing straight up she was 4’ft 11” tall. But she was really 4ft 10” tall. She wouldn’t give you that inch though! By the time she died, she was 4’8” like a girl of 12 years. 

 She had coal black hair and didn’t speak English until she was in the 8th grade (and still didn’t if you ask some people) Spoke with a French accent all her life. She was up at the crack of dawn and usually WAY BEFORE that, she washed our tennis shoes (which were ca-boom ca-booming in the dryer and mom was the neighbor’s alarm clock too though they didn’t ask her to be!) and all our clothes were laid out with our shoes and breakfast made!  

When we came home from school, she would have cookies made and Kool-Aid to drink. She would make us change, hurry and hang our clothes up; we would put play clothes on and LOCK the screen door so she could make dinner.  

We were not allowed in until dinner was ready. We had to hurry and take our shower and brush our teeth, in our pj’s (all 4 of us) by 6 in the evening. 

 Bed time was 8 and she began again the next day!  

I sure do miss those days when I was a little kid with our mama.  

Oh, she was fierce when you hurt her children a site to behold for sure. 

 Of course, like the brats we were, we got away with a lot! But do not worry Karma got us every time!  

If we were hurt, she would be right there beside us. Doing everything including spoon feed us if we pretended, we needed her too.  

Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn’t.  

She would do without things for herself for us to have things. She scrimped and saved to buy us school clothes from daddy’s paycheck, and then put things on lay-a-way for us. She always bought the cheapest items for herself. If the layaway was over budget, she would put everything back for herself.  

We were CLEAN. Our hair was always washed and combed and cleaned clothes every day!!  

She didn’t want a lot of furniture, anything fancy for sure! Just an old couch, recliner, MAYBE a coffee table, and just enough plates forks, and spoons to feed her family. One set of sheets for each bed that she washed every two days. No Clutter ever. We had our toys, she made sure! I am not sure why mom was the way she was I think it’s because her father died when she was little and then her mother got sick and couldn’t take care of her.  

She was moved between family members until her mother was well enough to take her. They ALL adored her because she was so tiny. She wasn’t ever abused or anything like that, it is just that material things didn’t mean anything to her.  

She NEVER complained EVER about her circumstance, EVER! Daddy would drive an old jalopy and Mom pretended it was a Cadillac. All she was ever concerned about was will it run!  

Absolutely nothing mattered except HER KIDS and Daddy. That’s it!  

As she got older, one day, I looked at her hands and realized they were gnarled, and her fingertips twisted. I was ashamed because I never noticed mom’s hands. She never complained about it EVER. Even as she was dying (and we didn’t know) she didn’t complain much at all.  

I know there are women out there that are kind of LIKE my mother, BUT there is NO ONE LIKE MY MOM.  

She deserves the highest praises, she deserves the best of everything, and ALL the curtsies still left to give her in this mortal world. I can’t say enough how noble a woman she was. It’s hard to convey that to someone who didn’t know her. 

 But if you could just thank God for such people then that’s enough. We are devastated of course, and this has been very emotional to write.  

Her name is SYLVIA MARY CRIBB I want God to hear it! 

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