Finally, her parents allowed her to move out of their Hamilton home and live by herself.

She answered every challenge.

“She has proved me wrong in a lot of ways,” said Crehan, 58, a Cincinnati attorney who visits his sister several times a week. “When she got that job, she was off and running.”

The nearly 34-year marathon has reached its finish line.

The 56-year-old, who graduated from Hamilton High School in 1989, recently retired.

As a retirement gift, she was presented a “Prosecutor’s Office” jersey with the No. 33 on the back, the number of years she was employed.

“She served the community proudly,” her brother said as the two of them sat in a Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities conference room.

Looking back on her career, Crehan said: “I loved that job because it made me work hard.”

“She made a lot of friends,” her brother added.

Friends in the workplace, friends throughout the Government Services Center, friends at the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities and friends in her neighborhood.

People gravitate toward her. It’s hard to resist her smile, her zest for life.

Now that she has retired, Crehan has additional time to play sports, eat out with friends, volunteer in the community and spend more time with her cat, Steve.

“It was time to move on,” her brother said when asked why she retired. “She needed time to relax.”

Every few days, she texts her brother with the same question: “Can I relax today?”

Welcome to retirement, Elizabeth. Welcome to seven days of Saturdays.

The mission at the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities: “Actively partnering with people to access the world.”

In Crehan’s case, her world is Hamilton. Mission accomplished.

Butler County Judge Matthew Crehan, who died in 2023, and his wife, who died in 2008, adopted all three of their children, Tom, Ken and Elizabeth.

After his parents passed, Ken said he “gladly stepped” into their role.

Despite countless trips to hospitals as a young girl, Elizabeth’s developmental challenges were never fully diagnosed, her brother said. He believes she has a form of autism.

He was asked if it was “difficult” for him when he was younger having a sister with developmental disabilities.

“It’s not difficult,” he responded. “I wouldn’t use that word. It’s being a family. We’ve always been protective of each other. We love each other.”

Crehan said his sister has a great recall of numbers and that was helpful when she was pulling multiple case files for the seven common pleas court dockets.

But she struggles comprehending time and money.

“She’s happy all the time,” he said.

Elizabeth was asked what life lessons we can learn from someone with developmental disabilities who graduated from high school, held a full-time job for close to 34 years and who has lived independently for 30 years.

There was a long pause as though she searched the conference room for just the right words.

“Work hard and be nice to people,” she said with a smile.

“Everything you learn in kindergarten,” her brother added.