Annie Virginia Crader, longtime railroad employee, devoted wife and mother of two passed away on February 11, 2007, after a short illness. She was 86. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, on May 24, 1920, she moved to southern California with her family during the Depression. She graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1937, and two years later married Elliott L. Crader, her husband of 55 years.

They eventually settled in Covina, where they built a house in 1955 that she lived in until November 2006, and where Elliott was a building inspector until his death in 1994. During World War II she worked for Southern Pacific Railroad, but resigned to raise her family. She eventually returned to the railroad in 1973, as a ticket agent for Amtrak in Pasadena and at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. It was there that she began to cultivate a love for the railroads and a sense of adventure that filtered down to her family and ultimately took her across the globe, from Hawaii and Alaska to Sweden, Italy, Tahiti, and the Panama Canal. Even into old age, "Baki," as she was known to her grandsons, never lost her passion for travel, hiking the trails of Mount St. Helen's National Park as a 78-year-old, swimming with stingrays in the Caribbean at 79, and taking her family on an Alaskan cruise and white-water rafting for her 80th birthday. For her, there was no greater joy than "making memories" with her family in the latest exotic location she had picked to explore. In addition to her love of travel, Virginia, as she was called, was an avid quilter, seamstress, knitter, and gardener. She enjoyed playing bridge and was a crossword puzzle enthusiast. She loved baking and canning, and was well-known for her jams, relishes and apricot pies. She was a past PTA Council President, hospital volunteer, and longtime member of Covina United Methodist Church.

She will be truly missed by all who knew and loved her. She is survived by her daughter Diana, her son-in-law Robert Johnson, her two grandsons Andrew and Samuel, and her sister Daisy. Her son David died in 2005. 

San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 14, 2007