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2009 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 475
Celebrating the life of Flora M. Crater.
 
Agreed to by the Senate, February 25, 2009
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 27, 2009
 

WHEREAS, Flora M. Crater, a respected citizen and passionate political activist who fought for the rights of women and minorities, died on February 1, 2009; and

WHEREAS, Flora Marina Trimmer was born on April 19, 1914, in Costa Rica; her mother was Nicaraguan and her father was an American accountant in the sugar industry; and

WHEREAS, Flora Crater lived in Cuba, New York, and Washington, D.C., before her family settled in Virginia in the Town of Orange, where she lived most of her childhood; she began college at Strayer College in Washington and was very proud of the fact that she completed her undergraduate degree at George Mason University at age 67; and

WHEREAS, Flora Crater was married to Walter James Crater, who died in 1982, and she started working for improvement and racial integration in the Fairfax County Public Schools after the couple moved to Falls Church in 1942; and

WHEREAS, Flora Crater served as the enthusiastic first president of the National Organization for Women’s Virginia chapter, the first coordinator of the Virginia Women’s Political Caucus, and the chair of the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority; and

WHEREAS, founder and editor of the Woman Activist newsletter and the Almanac of Virginia Politics, Flora Crater started the Woman Activist Fund, Inc., in 1973, and led a group of women, Crater’s Raiders, to lobby for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during the 1970s and 1980s; and

WHEREAS, Flora Crater worked diligently throughout her lifetime to persuade the United States Congress and the Virginia legislature to pass the ERA; and

WHEREAS, although the General Assembly never ratified the ERA, Flora Crater never gave up fighting for the rights of women and minorities in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, Flora Crater will be fondly remembered for her great passion in her beliefs, her capacity to care for and help others, and her devotion to her family, and will be greatly missed by her three children, Walter J. Crater, Jr., Horace W. Crater, and Vivian A. Gray; her four grandchildren; her six great-grandchildren; and her numerous friends and admirers; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of a hardworking activist and outstanding Virginian, Flora M. Crater; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Flora M. Crater as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.