Belinda Rae McDonald Crum was born March 19, 1960 in Logan, West Virginia to Elmer Ray McDonald and Joy Lee Powell McDonald, also from Logan.
Her Heavenly homecoming was on Sunday, September 6th, 2020.
Belinda was known to many affectionately as “mom”. She was a loving, hardworking, and faithful person who touched hearts, impacted lives with her wisdom, and spread the good news of Jesus everywhere she went.
She spent much of her youth in West Virginia, first as a dedicated and eager student where she always made good grades and won awards and developed her love of writing, then later as a stay at home mom. In 1994 she graduated from Huntington Junior College of Business and became a medical assistant. After her mother’s death a year later she relocated to a new life in Tampa, Florida with her two children. In Florida, she continued to influence the lives of those around her and serve the Lutz/Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel communities through her nine year employment at Goodwill and church service.
Belinda was an avid reader and loved to write. She loved all of the classic Victorian authors, spooky stories, devotionals, historical works, and the Bible. Her favorite author among them all was Edgar Allen Poe. Writing was also a passion of hers that soon became a career as well.
In October of 2015 she came to live with her children after finally leaving their abusive father after 35 years of a volatile marriage. Her children were over joyed and were happy to receive her.
This was a fresh start for Belinda. Along with this she started to attend a new church, Grace Family Church in Temple Terrace. Belinda loved it there and before long she became part of the GFC serve team, greeting everyone who came to the door with love and a smile.
In 2018 Belinda decided that she was gonna follow in her son, Johnny’s footsteps and become certified in television production. After completing the training program in record time she did just that and along with her children, she founded Invisible Man Entertainment, a film, graphics, and events company working in Tampa and Los Angeles. It was also during this time that she ghost wrote and published her last piece, “Miami 51”.
Invisible Man Entertainment brought a lot of opportunity for Belinda and the family. By this time she had mastered script writing and was contacted by Hollywood talent to assist in the production of an upcoming movie set to release next year.
In addition to being asked to partake in the production of a Hollywood film, Belinda also got the opportunity to to submit three of her own screenplays to directors, one of which is currently under serious consideration.
In addition to writing, she had a passion for arts, crafts, and cooking. Not a single Christmas would go by without her making handmade Christmas ornaments and decorations and her holiday food was legendary. The Thanksgiving turkey stuffing filled with sage being her and everyone’s favorite.
Out of all of Belinda’s accomplishments, the ones that she was most proud of was leading people to Christ. She had a heart for Jesus and showed His love to others worldwide through her Facebook platforms “The Prayer Closet” and “A Flicker of Hope”. In these groups she shared the love of Jesus and the beautiful stories and poetry that she wrote for Him. It was Jesus that kept her grounded throughout the hardships in her life. She often spoke of an experience in her life as a young mother of two. Several days had passed and there were no groceries in the house. She took her children into the bedroom, got down on her knees and prayed for food. A few minutes later a man came to the door with a large box of fresh bananas. She told him that she had no money so she could not purchase them. He told her that he was only looking to get rid of the bananas. She always drew on that experience to show how God always comes through. The bananas were fresh, free, nutritious, and soft for young children to eat. She always told others after this “Just when you think it’s over, God sends a banana box.”
Her love of God is her greatest legacy. Every night her son would read the Bible to the family and there would be family prayer time. One of her last requests is that this should never stop, and it won’t, and continues every night still. Even if it’s on the phone.
Belinda was a wonderful, loving person and will sorely be missed by her children, family, all who love her, and her beloved cat, Cuddles. She sang and praised right up until the last day. Her son, Johnny was singing to her a song that she used to sing to him as a child on rough days, “You are my Sunshine”, on that last day and she was trying to sing with him. A beautiful illustration of her heart.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Ray and Joy McDonald, brother, Charles Meeks, and brother-in-law, Doug Blevins. She is survived by her natural children, Johnny Crum, Erica Crum, and adoptive children, Doron Ben-Eliezer, Roopa Bommidi, Venkat Devineni, and numerous others whom she counted as her own and who loved her as a mom, her sister, Debbie Swims, and brother, William Meeks, sister-in-law, Doneva Meeks, as well as several nieces and nephews.
Services for Belinda will be announced as the current situation allows on her Facebook forum, “The Prayer Closet”.
Published 9/23/20
