Jarlath William Crowe

Jarlath William Crowe, 78, of Berlin, MA passed peacefully in his sleep at St. Mary Health Care Center, in Worcester, MA.

Born February 23, 1948 in Rochester, NY, to Dr. Thomas Crowe and Frances Crowe (nee Hyde), where his father was in residency in radiology at Strong Memorial Hospital. His father had previously served as a doctor in the US Army during WWII.

The family moved to Hartford, CT where it was discovered that Jarlath was deaf. His parents decided that Jarlath would be trained in the oral method with the residual hearing that he had. His mother, Frances, took a course at the John Tracy Clinic in California to train Jarlath, having taken his sister and grandmother along for the ride in a Douglas DC-4 propeller plane.

To continue the oral method, his parents selected Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, MA where he met Rebecca, who would later become his wife.

Jarlath continued at Clarke School until he was 12, and later graduated from Williston Academy in Easthampton MA. He attended RIT in Rochester, NY, where they had a new program: NTID (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). He earned an associate degree in Biology and a degree in social sciences.

He was an avid fisherman and liked to tie fishing flies. He loved to fish off the Cape Cod canal with friends. His other great love was skiing, having been a proud member of the Deaf Olympic team and skied for USA in college.

He worked for the US Fish & Wildlife Service for 30 years, at fish hatcheries in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. His son Patrick was born in 1981 and Jarlath raised Patrick as a single father until 1993.

In 1993 he married Rebecca Wathen-Dunn and they lived in Sheffield, MA, briefly before moving to Foxboro, MA. He loved hiking with Rebecca and their dog Nina at the nearby F. Gilbert Mills State Forest. After 28 years in Foxboro, they moved to Berlin, MA in 2022.

Jarlath is survived by his wife of 32 years, Rebecca Wathen-Dunn; his son Patrick and two grandchildren in California; step-son Ian Baker in Virginia; his sister Caltha of Colorado; brother Tom in Oregon; and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service and celebration of life are being planned, details will be announced.