Portrait of Sammye Crawford. IMB Photo

Sammye Crawford, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Venezuela, died March 17, 2026. She was 90.  

Sammye was born March 1, 1936, in Poteau, Oklahoma, to the late Jesse Oliver Henson and Ora Gladys Henson. She graduated from Poteau High School and attended Poteau Junior College (now Carl Albert State College) and Southeastern State College (now Southeastern Oklahoma State University), Durant, Oklahoma.  

She married James Crawford on Jan. 26, 1957. In October 1957, they moved to Cameron, Oklahoma, where James became pastor of the Baptist Church and Sammye began her life as a pastor’s wife. For the next decade, their family moved often as James was called to be pastor of several different churches in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.  

While seeking missionary appointment, Sammye recalled they began to feel the call to mission work during the fall of 1967.  

She wrote, “The call to missions became stronger and in June 1968 at the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston we had our first conference with the Foreign (now International) Mission Board personnel. Since that time, we have come to the definite decision that this is the Lord’s will for our lives, and we have surrendered to His will. Wherever He leads we are willing to follow.” 

In 1969, the International Mission Board appointed James and Sammye missionaries to Venezuela, where they worked in the Seminario Teologico Bautista de Venezuela. She served as seminary librarian, taught piano lessons and worked with the choir. They planted two Baptist churches in Venezuela and two in the U.S. 

Sammye was preceded in death by her husband of almost 65 years, James Crawford.  

She is survived by her children, Jim Crawford (Gina), Joyce McCartney (Mike), and Janet Austin (Randall); six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.  

A funeral service was held March 30 at Trinity Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  

Read an obituary here.