Catholic Priest, Author. Coming to America in 1903, he was a graduate Holy Cross University in Worcester, Massachusetts where he was an active writer of stories and poems along with editor of the college newspaper. His ability to write well helped in many other campaigns and adventures throughout his lifetime. He entered seminary studies in Baltimore, Maryland, and upon being ordained, he left for the west coast. His assigned parish was a scattered congregation over hundreds of miles with the lowest spot in the United States, Death Valley, and the highest, Mount Whitney. In his first sixteen months, he put over 50,000 miles on his Model T Ford. After serving in this desert parish for five years, he became pastor of St. John's Cathedral, Fresno, in 1924. During this time, Fr. Crowley was instrumental in starting St. Columba's High School there. Ten years later, he returned to his original assignment in the Eastern Sierra Region and Owens Valley. He was heartbroken in what he found; many families had abandoned their farms because their water had been diverted to the city of Los Angles. He devoted his life to the spiritual and economic welfare of the people of Owens Valley, and is remembered for healing long-standing division and bitterness towards the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and his parishioners. As writer Irving Stone pointed in his famous “Evening” article, “Fr. Crowley worked constantly for religious tolerance. Protestants forgave him for being a Catholic, and the Catholics forgave him for having so many Protestant friends. Somewhere along the line, the padre became The Padre, an understanding father to whom the frightened, the weary and the confused could come for comfort and help”. At one point, The Padre actually locked chief water engineer H.C. Van Norman in a meeting room until the exasperated engineer conceded to requests to build a new dam that would restore water to the impoverished desert. He was a driven, focused man on a mission who often worked 16-hour days for weeks. William Webster’s 1948 article gives the account of his death: A single cross along a lonely highway marks to spot that he died in a car accident; he hit a deer and was forced in the path of oncoming traffic. His earthly mission was completed. In 1941, his efforts were recognized by the State of California who named the new reservoir in the Owens Valley "Crowley Lake." He has been cited in the William L. Karl’s book, “Water and Power”, as one of the most influential advocates of tourism in an area desperately in need of economic development during the Depression years. The brutal situation with the water management was told in the movie “Chinatown”. “Desert Padre: The Life and Writings of Father John J. Crowley 1891-1940” was complied and published by Joan Brooks.