EAST BERNE — A lover of summertime and flower gardens, Leila Crawford Salsburg was a lifelong resident of East Berne. She died on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017. She was 83.

Mrs. Salsburg was born on April 20, 1933, to the late Clifford and Ruby (née McMillen) Crawford Sr. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Reidsville, where she worked with cows, chickens, pigs, and vegetable crops. She also learned how to can fruits and vegetables as a child, as well as making jellies and jams from berries picked on a nearby hill — skills she maintained throughout her life.

“She was a farm girl, growing up,” said her daughter, Deborah Stevens.

Mrs. Salsburg graduated from the eighth grade in the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District. After this, she continued to work on the family farm. She met Myron Salsburg at a roller-skating party. They were married when Mrs. Salsburg was 17, on Jan. 13, 1951. Shortly before Mr. Salsburg died, the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

“The two of them were very devoted,” said Mrs. Stevens. “They held hands wherever they went.”

The couple started their family right away — about a year after being married — and at one point Mrs. Salsburg’s four daughters were under her wing and all under the age of 6.

“That kept her busy,” said her daughter.

Mr. Salsburg worked as a mechanic on construction equipment.

“My father was kind of a hot-rod car nut,” said Mrs. Stevens, who described how her parents used to drive around the countryside when they were courting.

Mr. Salsburg’s work involved traveling to different construction sites to fix equipment. He never left the region, but he could be gone for two or three days at a time. Mrs. Salsburg stayed home to care for their four children.

“She was the homemaker and held the fort down,” said Mrs. Stevens.

In the early 1960s, the couple bought land at Mallorys Corners and began building a house — living in the basement while the rest of the home was built. Mrs. Stevens said that the house was built while the family lived “paycheck to paycheck.”

After their home was built, Mrs. Salsburg kept a flower garden.

“She loved her flower garden,” said Mrs. Stevens. “She would put in a little bit of everything.”

Her daughter said that Mrs. Salsburg’s favorites were a toss-up between tulips and roses.

The family also kept horses on the property, which Mrs. Salsburg’s daughters rode in horse shows. Her children also participated in sports. Mrs. Salsburg helped however she could.

“She was always very supportive of all our hobbies,” said Mrs. Stevens.

Mrs. Salsburg’s own hobbies included canning, cooking, and baking; she was well-known for her cream puffs and oatmeal cookies as well as for her Sunday afternoon dinners.

“As we got older, they were known for their Memorial Day clambake picnics,” said Mrs. Stevens, of her parents. Her father would make clam chowder, but her mother especially loved hosting such events.

“We always had large, big graduation parties,” said Mrs. Stevens. Her mother also helped host wedding receptions, and especially enjoyed the holidays.

“She always made sure our Christmases were special,” said Mrs. Stevens, adding that this was despite her parents not having much much money; they “penny-pinched.”

Sometimes her parents had to raise their children with “tough love.” Mrs. Stevens recalls a time when her sister ran away from home to their grandparents’ farm in Reidsville.

“I remember my mother calling ahead to my grandmother to look out for her,” she said. “My mother knew...She said, ‘She went to your grandmother’s didn’t she?’”

Mr. Salsburg, Mrs. Stevens said, acted as disciplinarian.

The tough love was applied to Mrs. Salsburg’s grandchildren, too.

“She enjoyed having them, but wouldn’t spoil them,” said Mrs. Salsburg.

Mr. Salsburg was a hunter, and kept a number of different hunting dogs — coonhounds, beagles, and spaniels. The whole family would go on an occasional nighttime raccoon hunt and, though she otherwise didn’t hunt herself, Mrs. Salsburg was very involved with her husband’s hobby. She was the official scorekeeper at the trap shoots for the A&R Sportsman's Club in Reidsville and later a member of the Elsmere Rod and Gun Club.

Mrs. Salsburg was particularly fond of one hunting dog, Brownie Freckles, a springer-spaniel bird-hound, said Mrs. Stevens.

“He was a special dog,” she said.

Mr. Salsburg was also involved in snowmobile racing, and Mrs. Salsburg supported his hobby, but also enjoyed snowmobiling herself. The family bought 40 acres on the Tug Hill Plateau and would ride snowmobiles to reach a camp there, sometimes hosting New Year’s Eve bonfires.

“She enjoyed that very much,” said Mrs. Stevens.

The family also took summer road trips to Fort Henry; Niagara Falls; and to the Adirondacks, including Lake George.

Later in life, Mr. Salsburg took a job at Hannay Hose Reels factory in Westerlo and, when he retired from there, he took it upon himself to look after Mrs. Salsburg, who had begun suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. After he died, she resided at the Guadalupe Unit at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland.

“She was just a wonderful, loving, life-enjoying person,” said Mrs. Stevens.

****

Mrs. Salsburg is survived by her three daughters, Deborah Stevens and her husband, Thomas, Margie Kawczak and her husband, Steve, Cindy Kawczak and her husband, Peter; her grandchildren, Matthew and Jeremy Kawczak, Amy Relyea and her husband, Matthew, Wendy Trossbach and her husband, Brandon; and a great-granddaughter, Madison Relyea. She is also survived by her sister-in-law and friend Lillian Crawford; and her brother-in-law, Homer Stark; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Her husband of 60 years, Myron Salsburg; her daughter, Shirley Salsburg; her brother, Clifford Crawford Jr.; and her sister, Pearl Stark, died before her.

Calling hours will be held on Friday, March 3, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Fredendall Funeral Home, 199 Main Street, Altamont. A service will follow at 7 p.m. An interment will take place in the spring at Onesquethaw Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601, or to Helderberg Ambulance, 978 Cole Hill Rd., Berne, NY 12023.

— H. Rose Schneider