Hope and redemption at heart of 55-year-old college graduate’s remarkable journey

Vera Crowl doubles the pleasure of her smile as she poses with a picture of herself in her cap and gown. After 30 years of struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, Crowl returned to college after God told her that he wanted her to help others. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)

By John Shaughnessy

RICHMOND—Vera Crowl couldn’t stop smiling as she stood among a crowd of college graduates on May 4.

Surrounded by friends and relatives taking countless pictures of her, the 55-year-old former homeless person couldn’t believe that she had reached this moment in her life.

After all, Crowl had struggled for 30 years with drug and alcohol addiction, spending five of those years living on the streets.

Yet, several years ago, she began a remarkable turnaround of hope and redemption when she became a member of the Richmond Catholic Community, which includes the parishes of Holy Family, St. Andrew and St. Mary. And while she spent time alone one evening in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in 2005, she believed that she heard a call from God telling her to become a counselor for people suffering from substance abuse.

It was a call she almost ignored until she received an unexpected message from her parents a few weeks later. They wanted to tell her about a letter they had just received from the University of Dayton—a letter that stated there was a scholarship available for a member of her father’s family because of his service to the Church as a permanent deacon.

Her parents, not knowing about their daughter’s call from God, told her they thought she should use the scholarship—to finish the college degree she had started in the 1970s.

So, beginning in January of 2006, she commuted 100 miles every time she drove from Richmond to the Catholic college in Dayton, Ohio. She did it three to four times a week, pursuing a degree in psychology while she also worked.

Then came the moment Crowl thought she had lost forever in all those years of addiction. On May 4, she participated in graduation ceremonies at the University of Dayton while her parents watched.

“They were so proud and happy for me,” Crowl recalled as she sat in her home recently. “I was so excited. I know I’m going into this because of God’s call. God specifically called me to help people who are just like me.”

While that story is amazing, so is the journey that led Crowl to that moment. It’s a journey in which her life was transformed by God and others who gave her hope when she felt so little for herself.

The beginning of hope

After 30 years of drug and alcohol addiction, Vera met Dick Crowl in the late 1990s. He told her that he really enjoyed the person she was when she wasn’t drinking or doing drugs.

“That was my first glimmer of hope,” she recalled.

An even stronger feeling of hope came when they were married and moved from California to eastern Indiana in 2000. She began attending St. Andrew Church in Richmond, where she met Father Todd Riebe, the pastor.

“I started going over there for Mass,” she said. “I had a lot of guilt feelings and shame of where I had been. I’d sit there and cry, and I’d run out of church sometimes, but I knew it was where I needed to be. I started to talk to Father Todd about how scared I was, how ashamed I was and how hard it was for me to come to church. He gave me a lot of time. He always helped put things in perspective. He said, ‘Keep coming back. Talk to me when you need to.’ ”

Those words of comfort led her to become more involved in the parish. She began to share the gift of her singing.

“I joined the choir about a year after I started attending Mass,” she noted. “The songs we sang hit chords in me about the things I needed to pray about. That was good for me. Then I started cantoring, leading the music for the congregation. It helped me feel a better connection to God in my prayers. I got so many comments from people that it helped them, too. That made me feel good. Even then, I was hard on myself.”

Following her heart

Another turning point came in 2005 as she fulfilled her weekly commitment in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at Holy Family Church.

“There was no one in the church except Jesus and me,” she said. “I felt this call. It scared me to death. I was stunned. He wanted me to be a substance abuse counselor. I didn’t do anything for a couple of weeks. Then I went back to Holy Family. He told me that I didn’t misunderstand him, that I shouldn’t be afraid. I went to Father Todd to see if this was possible. He assured me he believed it was extremely possible and I should follow my heart.”

The clincher was the news from her parents about the scholarship, a scholarship that was made possible by the faith of her father, Deacon Otis White, who lives in St. Louis.

“I never knew how much he wanted to be involved in the Church,” she said. “Most of his life, he worked the equivalent of two full-time jobs—labor jobs and warehouse jobs. In the early part of his life, he only went to school to the sixth grade. Then he got his GED [high school equivalency degree]. Then he went to junior college. Then he went to a seminary to become a deacon. He wanted to speak God’s Word. I was so proud of him.”

This time, she wanted to make her parents proud. So she enrolled at the University of Dayton.

“I was terrified. ‘How am I going to do this? Am I smart enough to keep up? Lord, help me.’ By the end of the first week, I was in tears,” she recalled. “I ran to Father Todd. Poor Father Todd. I’d come crying to him after Masses. I was so scared. Some of it was a fear of failure. Some of it was a fear of letting people down. I didn’t want to mess things up ever again. I was working all night at Wal-Mart and on many days I drove straight to school. Each semester, I grew as a student.”

A journey touched by faith

Her efforts at changing her life were noticed.

“She had everything against her,” said Wiebke Diestelkamp, a math professor at Dayton who taught Crowl. “Her life wasn’t easy, but she managed to stay in school. She’s a hard worker. Her faith has just sustained her. Her faith has been a major reason for her to do this.”

Diestelkamp nominated Crowl for Dayton’s Nora Duffy Award, which is given each year to an adult student who has overcome major obstacles to earn a bachelor’s degree. Crowl received the award and her degree on May 4 even though she still has to complete one course this summer. She will also begin a master’s degree in clinical counseling this summer.

Father Riebe marvels at the changes he’s seen in Crowl since they first met.

“I remember first meeting Vera at Mass some years ago after she and Dick first moved to Richmond,” he recalled. “She wasn’t so sure that she belonged with us. Through the love and acceptance of this community, she quickly came to understand that she does belong with us.

“Vera is an inspiration to everyone. She has not only reclaimed her life and her faith, she has grown in leaps and bounds in living and celebrating that life and faith. She will be an amazing mentor to others who think it can’t be done. She is living proof that all things are possible with God.”

Crowl has learned to embrace that belief.

“My faith gives me an anchor,” she said. “It gives me something to hold onto that’s stronger than I am. It lifts me up because I know what I’m doing is guiding me toward what God wants me to do with my life. I talk to God first thing in the morning. I thank him for another opportunity to serve him. I ask him for the strength to accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my thoughts, words and actions.”

In turning to God, she knows she has turned around her life.

“I’m blessed all day, every day, no matter what. God’s hand is in everything. Our call is to find it and thank God for it. That’s how I try to live my life.” †