Alfred Bryant Crawford

In celebration of the life of our father, we would like to share with you some information about his unique life, his large family and his special interests.

Alfred Bryant Crawford was the second child born, on January 1st, 1918 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Alfred was the third child born to Harold and Minnie Crawford, who eventually had a total of six sons. After being born in the town of Haverhill Massachusetts, and during his pre-adult years his family moved frequently throughout the New England States, from Massachusetts, to several towns in New Hampshire, then several towns in Vermont.

He would often recount many stories about his childhood, especially about his high school years in Burlington Vermont. He loved speed skating, and during the early winter, when the ice got thick enough on Lake Chaplain he would strap on his skates and challenge his classmates to a race across the lake from the Vermont side to the New York side of the lake a distance of 12 miles.

Dad enjoyed describing the time his younger brother cut a hole in the ice on Lake Champlain so they both could drop a line into the water to fish. But as he cut the hole around himself, his younger brother unfortunately forgot he was standing in the area that was being cut, and as a result he fell into the icy lake. After fishing his younger brother out of the icy water, Dad made his younger brother run all the way home so he wouldn’t freeze.

At the age of seventeen he enlisted in The Army of the United States at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. “Al” as he was then nicknamed, enjoyed the excitement of being attached to the mounted cavalry. The 3rd Cavalry, Troop “A” was one of the last units to ride horses before these units transitioned to a mechanized (i.e., armored trucks and tanks) force. Al loved his Army horse that he had to tame and break so he could put a saddle on his mount. He spent over a year and a half attached to Troop A, would often speak of his 16 hand horse who he affectionately named “Jigs.” In 1937, as noted on Al’s Army discharge papers from his commanding officer was that Al’s horsemanship was “excellent.” A notation he was very proud of because he really loved to ride Jigs. Al found out later that right after he was discharged from the 3rd Cavalry soon to be famous General George S. Patton took over the Command of the 3rd Cavalry from 1938 to 1940.

During World War II, Al was the last of the six Crawford brothers to join the Armed Forces from his family. As noted in a number of newspaper articles, “Mr. and Mrs. Harold Crawford received their sixth military star, one star for each son serving in WWII, when Alfred joined the Navy in 1943.” Brother, Richard Crawford the youngest served in the Navy, while Brothers, Robert, Donald, Harold, and Vernal Crawford served in the Army/Army Air Corps.” Our grandparents were so proud of all six son’s contribution to our national security and to our countries ability to finally win WWII in 1945.

While in the Navy during WWII, Al served aboard the USS Grundy as a Coxswain for the 10th Beach Battalion. A Coxswain duties, was to prepare, maintain, and drive if needed a small landing craft loaded with troops to shore from the mother ship. The USS Grundy was deployed to the Pacific theater, but fortunate for Al he only served a two year hitch of naval service, and never saw any significant military action. In his “Notice of Separation from US Naval Service” it indicated that he received the Victorious Service Medal, I think this was what a service member received if you didn’t see any action yet they served in time of war.

While in the Navy, Al met Gunner Bergdahl, who lived in Chicago with his new wife June and they became close friends. As luck would have it, June had a girl friend named Emily Ida Larson and introduced Emily to Al on a blind date. On August 28th, 1948 they were married in Chicago with Gunner as Best Man and June as Maid of Honor. Their friendship spanned more than 50 years.

After the War, Al worked in the photography business for a number of professional studios in Chicago. He would always tell us the story of: selling children pictures door to door in the Chicago suburbs. He was always the top salesman for the studios.

Al and his new wife Millie (a nickname for Emily) decided to move from the cold weather of Chicago to sunny Southern California and settle in the small community of San Bernardino. Al got a job working for a small company named Monroe Calculating Machine Company selling adding machines and calculators to businesses. Later, Monroe Calculating Machine Company went International and was acquired by Litton Industries. Al worked for Monroe/Litton Industries for a total of 17 years.

At Loma Linda hospital in July 1952, James Bryant Crawford (nicknames Jimmy and Jim) was born and 13 months later Robert Douglas Crawford (nicknames Bobby and Bob) was born.

Our family moved every few years, from the early 50’s until 1959 we lived in San Bernardino, CA, 1959 one year in Lakewood, CA, then 1960 we moved to Tustin, CA where we lived until Monroe moved us to Littleton Colorado in 1963. This move was a result of Dad being promoted to Branch Manager of the Denver Office for Monroe.

While living in Colorado we took advantage of the cold snowy weather and participated in a number of winter sports in particular, ice skating sledding, tobogganing, and snow skiing. One family ski trip to Aspen Colorado in the winter of 1964 we took ski lessons at Buttermilk Mountain. While skiing there, Mom saw several famous people including Jackie Kennedy and her children, and Joseph Cotton. What a great experience for Jim and I. The best part of the trip though was staying in a hotel about 50 miles from Aspen in Glenwood Springs Colorado. This hotel had outdoor hot spring pools with clouds of steam came billowing up from the heated spring water pool and although it was snowing, Jim, Bob and Dad went swimming because the water temperature of the pool was 90 degrees, whereas, the outside air temperature was in the low 20’s.

Our family returned to our Tustin home in 1965 when Dad was transferred back to Southern California with Monroe. Jim and I both graduated from Foothill High School in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Jim went to the Coast Guard Academy and retired after a lengthy career attaining the grade of Captain. Bob attended USC NROTC and served 6 years active duty and fourteen years in the Naval Reserve, reaching the grade of Commander. Dad was very proud of our national service.

In 1970, Dad changed jobs and started working for Pitney Bowes the mailing machine company and worked there for ten years.

Dad was a salesman at heart, from selling photos to client his early years, to selling business machines towards the end. From time to time Dad would win special bonuses and free trip for exceeding periodic sales quotas. One free business trip Dad enjoyed was an all-expense paid trip to Puerto Rico to play golf and as it turned out he was thrilled to be setup in a foursome with the great golf professional Chi Chi Rodriguez. He had the best time for those 18 holes and he had plenty of bragging rights when he returned to the office.

Dad loved the Masonic Order. He first became a Mason in 1942 as a member of Candida Lodge #927 Chicago, Illinois. In 1954 he joined the Royal Arch Masons, Knights Templar and the Al Malaikah Shrine. He was most recently a member in good standing at the Orange Grove Lodge #293 in Orange, California.

In retirement, Dad was quite the green thumb. He planted and tended to his fruit trees that populated his backyard. Orange, avocado, lemon, lime, tangerine, apricot, peach, and plum, there was always some kind of delicious fruit in season to enjoy. He loved sharing his bounty of fruit with family, friends and neighbors.

Western Medical Center was a local place to find Dad during the day if he wasn’t in the backyard tending to his garden. He decided to volunteer at the local hospital where he met many new friends. His volunteerism kept him busy, active, as well as young at heart.

Dad always enjoyed his grandchildren. He played golf with them on several occasions. One golf excursion took Dad, Bob, Michael, and Mark to La Jolla where they had a wonderful opportunity to play 18 holes at the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course. This course is situated on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It’s a spectacular golf course with many challenging holes, well keep fairways, and breathtaking views.

After Millie passed away in 2000, he sold the Tustin home and eventually moved to an assisted living facility located in Pasadena. He lived at Pasadena Highlands for almost 8 years. Then after almost a year and a half in hospice care Dad passed away late in the afternoon on May 17.

We will miss you Dad, especially your infectious smile that always lite up the room. We all have many fond memories of our shared life experiences together. We love you Dad and we just want to thank you for enriching our lives in so many ways.

Here are a few names of famous people he admired:

Actors - John Wayne, and James Garner

TV news caster – George Putnam

Politician – Ronald Reagan

Golf Pro – Jack Nicholas

Here are the names of a few of his favorite TV shows:

Musical Director – Lawrence Welk

Comedy – All in the Family, Jackie Gleason Show and Red Skelton Show

Western – Maverick