Angie Cropley Memorial Expenses & Family Support

I start simply with a request. I am asking for your help in support of my brother and his children. On Monday, January 16th, 2023, they lost their dear wife and mother, Angie Cropley. The loss was sudden, tragic, and completely unexpected. She had just celebrated her 47th birthday.

Angie was many things - a gardener, a cat-foster mom, an SCA enthusiast, a coffee lover, an avid reader, and a skilled sewist and needleworker. I never knew a time that her hands weren't full of some project or another, each completed project an amazing work of art. But more than any of these hobbies, Angie had a huge heart. She was a loving mom to her kids (ages 12 and 9) and a devoted wife to my brother, Joel. They would have celebrated their 15th anniversary this year.

My big brother is the strongest man I've ever known. Even when we were kids, he had such strong character that I followed him around, copying everything he did, liking everything he liked. When we were young adults, he introduced me to the man I would eventually marry. Now, Joel is managing this tragedy with unimaginable fortitude. He is so patient with the kids' never-ending questions about this awful thing and is plowing through each day, doing his damnedest to be their strength. I would expect no less from the strongest man I know.

Here's the thing. I don't want my brother to have to be strong... not because he has to for financial reasons, anyway. Not now. He's only started to grapple with how they'll manage without a wife, a mom, and the breadwinner. I have no doubt that he will be as strong through that as he has been through his whole life, but I want to give him some space. I want to lift some of the burdens of monetary worry, especially the very real worry about losing her income and their health insurance, so he can focus on bolstering up his kids and wrapping his mind around single-parenthood.

Whether you know me or my brother, or Angie or the kids, or none of us at all, I hope you have known moments of grace, blessing, and unspeakable kindness in your life. I pray that you will share those things with my brother and his family now and in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Love and Peace,

Sarah Cropley Henley