{"id":201844,"date":"2026-05-25T11:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/201844\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T11:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:26:13","slug":"late-berks-county-native-honored-for-her-life-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/201844\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Berks County native honored for her life of service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erin Crider always liked to build things, to figure out how they work and ways to make them work better.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as a child, she was always building things with Legos,\u201d her mom, Joyce, said. \u201cShe liked to keep busy. She was very analytical and extremely intelligent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those qualities took Erin far.<\/p>\n

The 2002 Wyomissing High School graduate would earn three engineering degrees, and then build an extraordinary career as a mechanical engineer working jobs with the State Department, White House and Navy.<\/p>\n

She was the only woman \u2014 and the youngest person under 60 \u2014 who knew how to manage the White House HVAC system. She served as the design and construction manager for President Joe Biden\u2019s and Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 second residences.<\/p>\n

Starting her career serving in a civilian capacity, Erin later enlisted in the Navy to further her career and continue to serve her country.<\/p>\n

It was in that capacity, as a Navy lieutenant, that she was deployed to a U.S. base in Djibouti, Africa. While there, she was killed in a noncombat accident.<\/p>\n

Her funeral was held in late January at Kuhn Funeral Home in West Reading. The 41-year-old Erin is survived by her wife, Anna Boulos.<\/p>\n

The Navy has not released details of the accident.<\/p>\n

Today, Erin\u2019s purposeful and prolific service to her country will be celebrated and her memory honored. She is being recognized posthumously as grand marshal of the 2026 Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Berks County natives Bill and Joyce Crider, will take part in the parade and memorial service, with Joyce laying the Gold Star Family Wreath in memory of Erin and in honor of all families who have lost a loved one in service to the nation.<\/p>\n

In advance of the ceremony, the couple spoke with the Reading Eagle about their beloved daughter.<\/p>\n

\"ErinErin Crider poses with her parents, Bill and Joyce Crider on her wedding day in 2024. (Courtesy of the Crider family)
\nEarly life<\/p>\n

Erin was born in Reading Hospital on July 19, 1984.<\/p>\n

She was Bill and Joyce\u2019s only child, precocious and clever from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always thought she could argue a point like a lawyer and thought she would end up in law school,\u201d Joyce said, adding that Erin was \u201cthe pride and joy of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe late U.S. Navy Lt. Erin Crider grew up in Wyomissing. (Courtesy of the Crider family)<\/p>\n

Of course, Erin wasn\u2019t always perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got into some trouble too,\u201d Joyce said with a laugh. \u201cWhen she was in high school she was with a couple of her friends and they were shooting off fireworks and got chased by the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, for the most part, Erin was a good kid. Besides excelling in school, she was a tremendous athlete.<\/p>\n

She competed in soccer, cross country and bowling through high school and eventually found Ultimate Frisbee the summer before her senior year while spending two weeks at West Point. She would go on to found, captain and star on\u00a0 ultimate frisbee teams across the U.S. and participated in international tournaments, including two World Cups.<\/p>\n

\"ErinErin Crider, a Wyomissing High School graduate, founded and starred on several ultimate frisbee teams across the U.S.(Courtesy of the Crider family)
\nAn impressive resume<\/p>\n

After graduating from Wyomissing, Erin headed off to study engineering at Penn State.<\/p>\n

While on summer break, she worked for the Army Corps of Engineers at Blue Marsh Lake. And while working on her master\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering and engineering management at University of Colorado in Boulder she was hired by the federal government to work as a civilian at a Navy base near Seattle.<\/p>\n

She would go on to serve as a construction engineer at a base in San Diego, working on projects related to security up and down the West Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of what she did we never knew because her security clearance was so high she could only tell us bits and pieces of it,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n

Along with the important work Erin was doing professionally in San Diego, she\u00a0 had some personal success. It\u2019s where she would meet Boulos, whom she married in July 2024.<\/p>\n

From San Diego, Erin headed back east to take a job at the White House. While working there, she decided to enlist \u2014 only telling her parents after graduating basic training because she knew they would worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had reached the highest rank that a civilian could, but she was always under the command of military personnel,\u201d Joyce explained. \u201cSo enlisting would put her on the same level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erin would go on to graduate from the Navy Officer Development School as a reserve civil engineering corps officer in June 2022. She served as officer-in-charge for the Naval Construction Forces\u2019 Innovative Readiness Training program, providing real-world training for military personnel while addressing critical infrastructure needs in underserved communities domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n

At the time of her death she was director of construction for the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command in Washington.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Navy Lt. Erin Crider is shown on base while on active duty. She was killed in a noncombat incident in January at a military base in Africa. (Courtesy of the Crider family)
\nA bright light<\/p>\n

While Erin definitely had a deep devotion to her career, that wasn\u2019t her sole focus.<\/p>\n

Her parents say she was effervescent, always smiling and surrounded by friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cErin loved to travel,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cAnd she could have taken a plane to any city and had a friend there who would pick her up. She made friends wherever she went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her devotion to those friends ran deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would give you the shirt off her back,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cIf you were a friend, you were a friend for life. She was generous to a fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe late Erin Crider, a Berks County native, was a big supporter of the Reading Fightin Phils. This photo was taken a game where she and her partner exchanged vows on the field before the game. (Courtesy of the Crider family)<\/p>\n

That was made even clearer to Joyce with a story she learned at Erin\u2019s funeral. There was a basket where people attending could place condolences cards for the family. When Joyce peeked in, she spied a Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cup. One of her daughter\u2019s friends from school told Joyce she had put it there because every time she sees one she thinks of Erin. It turns out they ate lunch together every day in elementary school. And, every day, Joyce would pack her daughter a peanut butter cup.<\/p>\n

Erin would split that treat into little pieces and share it with everyone at the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was Erin,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cWhen she loved you, she loved you hard. She was a really good person with the biggest heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erin was also known for being game for new experiences.<\/p>\n

\"ErinErin Crider, a 2002 graduate of Wyomissing High School who was killed in January while serving in the mililtary, was known for her adventurous spirit. (Courtesy of the Crider family)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had an adventurous soul,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n

Erin went on safari in Africa, cave diving in Japan and enjoyed exploring the great outdoors in her Volkswagen camper van with her beloved dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had unlimited energy,\u201d Bill said. \u201cShe did not like to be bored and was never content just sitting around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sometimes think she might have had an innate knowledge that her life might not be long and there was an urgency to fill it with everything she wanted to do,\u201d Joyce added.<\/p>\n

\"ErinErin Crider, a Berks County native who was killed while serving her country, traveled extensively. (Courtesy of the Crider family)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erin Crider always liked to build things, to figure out how they work and ways to make them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-201844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}