Crawford, Vesta Pierce

Vesta Pierce Crawford (1899-1983) was born in Salt Creek near Levan, Juab County, Utah the daughter of Sylvester and Alice Maude Redington. She graduated from Gunnison Vallety High School and went on to get a Bachelors of Arts degree from Brigham Young University; she studied English literature at Stanford University and received her Master's degree in literature and journalism in 1928 from the University of Wyoming. On April 3, 1924, she married Arthur L. Crawford (1899-1990), and together they had a daughter, Marian Crawford Anderson. Vesta Crawford taught in a number of Utah and California schools, as well as at the University of Utah. She was appointed editorial secretary of the Relief Society Magazine in 1945, and associate editor in 1947. She is a member of the League of Utah Writers, the Utah State Poetry Society (President, 1967-1971), the Utah Sonneteers, the Poetry Society of Pennsylvania, the Poetry Society of Virginia, and Poets of the Pacific. A prolific writer, she was published in many different venues, and wrote over six hundred poems. She was the recipient of numerous state and national prizes and awards, and was included in many anthologies. She was accomplished and noted in many diverse fields of writng, and her work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers of national circulation, as we as magazines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1965, Vesta Crawford was awarded Utah Poet of the Year for her book, Short Grass Women .

From the guide to the Vesta Pierce Crawrford papers, 1844-1955, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)

Woman author, biographer, and editor.

From the guide to the Vesta Pierce Crawford book drafts, circa 1950, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)