Poetry keeps Clarkston family close

Poetry is a continuing way of life in the Crosby family of Clarkston.
Annetta Crosby, wife of the late Alvin Crosby, has been writing poetry since she was a girl. Now, her daughter-in-law Dixie Crosby has picked up the poetry pen.
‘Dixie found out I was writing poetry for a book to pass on to the kids,? Annetta said. ‘She wrote some poetry ? it’s fantastic.?
Dixie met Annetta’s son Alvin A. Crosby II at West Jefferson Hospital in Louisiana. She worked in the administration offices of the hospital, while Alvin worked in its Hyperbarics facility.
A graduate of the College of Oceaneering in Los Angeles, he also worked as a commercial diver, and served in the U.S. Navy for six years.
He was born and raised in Clarkston, and graduated Clarkston High School in 1991.
Dixie has two children from a previous marriage, Alan and Holly Snow. She and Alvin married on Oct. 25, 2003, and are making their home in Abita Springs, La.
They have two children, Jace Arthur Crosby, born early due to Hurricane Katrina on June 09, 2005, and Rylee Alise Crosby, born a month early on June 20, 2006.
‘Dixie is now a stay-at-home wife and mother, and is a talented woman with many crafts, making anything out of wood, or wreaths, whatever she puts her mind to,? Annetta said. ‘She wrote two poems for me and, as you can see, is quite deep about her thoughts and subjects.?
Holly, 11, also discovered a love of poetry. Dixie and Holly both wrote poems in honor of Alvin and Annetta.
?(Kisses to the Wind) is exactly how it happened,? Annetta said.
Annetta learned poetry from her father, who used to play word games with her.
Alvin has two sisters, Laureen and Lisa, twins who graduated from CHS in 1994.
Laureen has been married since 1998 to Curt Bellomy and lives in Belleview, Fla. Lisa has been married since 2001 to Matt Newmarch and is living in Holly with their 3 children, Tyler, Kristeen, and Kayla.
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This is Holly on how I feel
Maybe too young to seem so real

You had a tragic loss some years ago
I know this because your only son told me so

I couldn’t believe my ears for they were of deceit
I heard of a wonderful man that I shall never meet

Although what is now in the past
Your treasure of memories sure made us laugh

You may feel abandoned
You may feel incomplete

But just remember the loved ones
The ones who have been so sweet

We care for you and only you
Though you may not see fit

That it seems it is you
Who took the hardest hit

We all have good times and bad times
And I am surely positive

That this time is the right time
For you to have a prerogative

This is Holly on how I feel
Not too young to be so real

Poem written by granddaughter Holly
March 19, 2007

The winter days are approaching us
And there she is again
Standing at his graveside
Blowing kisses to the wind

She brought him red carnations
Or roses, as he’d say
To put them on his tombstone
One for each and every day

She says out loud she misses him
And how the days have been
And standing there alone
Blowing kisses to the wind

She knows not what the years will bring
But how she feels today
A painful void inside her heart
That never goes away

And as she turns to say good bye
She tells him once again
I miss you more than ever before
Blowing kisses to the wind

? Kisses to the Wind
Dixie Crosby, Nov. 28, 2006