Becky Forbes Crossett

Seaford, Va. – She was known simply as Baka, a name bestowed upon Becky Forbes Crossett by her granddaughter that defined her existence for nearly 17 years. Her life was full of love for family and friends, for learning and for teaching. Happiness for her was a lifelong journey exploring life’s profound truths. In the early morning hours of September 24, 2019, she embarked on her final journey. Surrounded by her family, Baka passed away peacefully to be with loved ones who have gone before her.
Teaching was her tradecraft. It was Baka’s happy place and the center of her being. The retired coordinator for the York County Extend Center, a gifted and talented program for K-12 students, Baka touched the lives of some of the brightest minds of a generation. She kept in touch with many of her students over the years, celebrating their successes along with them. Teaching was also her avocation. She touched many lives through informal journaling and bookbinding sessions to help friends chronicle important events in their own lives.
It has been said about Baka that journaling was as important to her as breathing. She believed in the power of the written word, scribbling her thoughts in hundreds of hand-bound journals and on scraps of paper pressed into service as a record of her life. It helped her make sense of the world. She used her writings to express her feelings about life’s troubles and to help the people she loved. A poem to ease the pain of a friend, a fable to help her grandchildren through a difficult time or just a kind note of encouragement to help someone on their own life’s path always seemed to show up at just the right time. Each message was special to the person lucky enough to receive it, and many can be found stashed away in special places so Baka’s kind words can help them again in their times of need.
She found peace sitting at her table in Akasha, a special room above the garage in her home that was built just for her. Amid a lifetime collection of pens, decorative papers and special tools she needed to make her handmade books, she poured her soul into every volume. Each was special, often containing tiny pockets, sealed envelopes and secret hiding places that helped tell the stories she wanted to tell. A pen, a blank piece of paper and a computer filled with illustrations clipped from countless websites became a recipe for fantastic tales of mermaids, pirates and sharks along with dozens of other stories she dreamed up for those she loved. Her books occupied her final years. She loved making them for her grandchildren, and they love reading them. Their special Baka books are treasures that will be given to their own children one day.
Deeply spiritual, Baka often saw signs of a higher power at work. She saw them in life’s smallest details, often watching a fluttering butterfly or a soaring bald eagle and knowing in her heart that they were sent by long-departed loved ones to look out for her, her family and her many friends. The signs comforted her as she searched for meaning in her own life and in the lives of those she loved.
Baka spent her life making other people’s lives better. She brought out the best in everyone she met, and she was happiest when she was surrounded by her friends and family. The 78-year-old Williamston, North Carolina, native was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hilton Forbes. She was the loving wife of David Anthony Crossett for 54 years, a comforting mother to Shawn Leigh Crossett who passed away in 2002, Kenya Crossett Finley and her husband Thomas Charlton Finley and John Kevin Crossett and his wife Jessica Ellen Brown Crossett. She was a doting grandmother to her “Little Star,” Madison Paige Finley, her “Little Prince,” Elden Anthony Crossett, and best friends with her loyal dachshund Willye McGee.
A funeral service will be held October 6, 2019 at 2 p.m. at Zion Methodist Church, 2109 Seaford Road, Seaford, VA 23696. The family requests that you bring your own Baka story to share at the service, or send your best Baka memory to kcrossett@nullgmail.com so it can be read privately by the family and saved as a memorial to her life.
In lieu of flowers, please spend the time to make someone’s life better with a kind word or action. The butterflies and eagles will be watching. Arrangements are being handled by Amory Funeral Home, Grafton.