Dr. Cassandra (Cassie) S. Crawford, 55, of Sycamore, IL passed away on August 11, 2024 at Northwest Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital after an extended battle with cancer.  Cassie was born on October 16, 1968, in San Diego California to Robert Crawford and Susan [Yates] Basko.  She grew up in San Diego and graduated from Monte Vista High School in 1986.

After receiving her BA in Psychology from Humbolt State University in 1995, Cassie found her calling in the field of sociology, receiving her MA in Sociology from Humbolt State University in 1999 and a PhD in Sociology from the University of California San Francisco in 2007. Over the next seventeen years, Cassie worked as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University, where she taught classes on the Sociology of Gender, Social Inequality, Contemporary and Classical Theory and Medical Sociology. She has been published in several professional journals and focused her research on the sociology of health and illness, technology and medicine, body studies and prosthetics. This research culminated with the publication of her book: Phantom Limb: Amputation, Embodiment and Prosthetic Technology by New York University Press in 2014.

Cassie found peace in art, cooking, decorating and spending time in the sun.  She enjoyed running and swimming and being in nature. She was a strong advocate for the less privileged and the environment and had a wonderful sense of humor and curiosity for the world.  She enjoyed spending time with her family, her partner Michael Hentschel, and her cat Doug.  Cassie was preceded in death by her father, Stephen (Steve) Basko.  She is survived by her mother, Susan Basko of San Diego, CA; her identical twin, Alexandra (Ali) Crawford, of Sacramento, CA; her younger sister, Stephanie (Stevie) Basko of Grass Valley, CA; and her nephews and niece: Emerson Crawford, Archer Basko Benton, Maverick Crawford and Belle Crawford.  She will be forever loved and missed.

A Celebration of her life will be held on November 16th, 2024 from 1pm-3pm in Illinois and 11am-1pm in California.  The Illinois service will be at the NIU.

The service will be in two locations: 2448 Autumn Meadow Ave, Sac, CA 95835 and BAVC Library, NIU, 231 N Annie Glidden Rd, DeKalb, IL 60115

Date and Time: 11/16/2024, 11am - 1pm CA, 1pm to 3pm IL

Address or Link to Online Services:
Virtual Meeting, Teams, Meeting ID: 216 148 032 971, Passcode: a6ixLG

Details on how to attend in person or virtually can be found at the following link: Cassie (Cassandra) Stacey Crawford.

To sign the online guest book or share a special memory- go to www.ButalaFuneralHome.com