Saraetta Mae Crownover Pew
Saraetta Pew was welcomed into heaven on March 1, 2022. She was 94 ½ years old. She passed away in her long-term care “home” in Chico.
Saraetta was born on July 13, 1927, in Antlers, Oklahoma. She grew up in Antlers, along with her five brothers. She met and married Carl Pew in 1946, when they were both 19 years old. They moved to Greenville in 1952 and lived there until moving to Chico in the early 1960s. They returned to Greenville in 1976, where they lived until they moved to Chico to enter long-term care. They had been married for almost 64 years when Carl died in 2010.
Over the years, Carl and Saraetta operated a car lot, a sawmill, and had a logging business in the Greenville area. For almost 50 years, they operated “Carl’s Trees,” where they cut wild Christmas trees in the mountains around Greenville and sold them in Sacramento.
Saraetta was an active member of Greenville Southern Baptist Church for many years, including Youth Leader, Sunday School teacher, and writer/artist/editor of the church’s newsletter. She served in those same roles at Esplanade Baptist Church during the years she lived in Chico. In her late 40s, she went to college and earned a BA degree, followed by a teaching credential. She was a gifted teacher and taught at a Christian School in Chico before moving back to Greenville. Saraetta was known for her sweet smile, her compassion for others, her deep faith, her talent as an artist and writer, and her gift of teaching in creative and engaging ways.
Saraetta is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Randy and Valerie of Crescent Mills, and her daughter and son-in-law Carla Pew and Michael Heffernan of Maui, Hawaii; grandchildren Jared Pew and his wife Cindy of Crescent Mills, and Tyler Pew of San Francisco; step-grandchildren Mike, Mark, and Angela Werner. She has 5 great-grandchildren and 3 step-great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was the last surviving person in her birth family.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 16, at 11AM at Greenville Southern Baptist Church on Greenville Wolf Creek Road. In lieu of flowers, Saraetta asked that donations be made to the Building Fund at that church.
