William Preston Crabtree

William Preston Crabtree was born on July 13, 1935, the only child of his mother, Elizabeth Preston Crabtree and his father, Willis Madden Crabtree. He passed away peacefully on Sunday, September 8, 2019. He was preceded in death in 2003 by his wife, Shirley Mae ‘Penny’ Goodin Crabtree.

Bill was born in Pearsall, Texas, and was raised in the small historic Preston family home on S.E. Dallas St. in Grand Prairie, Texas. He attended Grand Prairie Public Schools where his mother served as a school principal; his father served as the pharmacist at Miller Drugs, Grand Prairie’s pharmacy. Bill later attended Allen Military Academy during his high school years and the University of Texas. As a young man, he was an accomplished baseball player, an ace pitcher.

Bill spent his professional life, from 1966-1993 working for Vought Defense Systems; he served as a purchasing agent and negotiated the first contract between Vought and a foreign supplier, living for a brief time in southern California and traveling extensively to Japan and South Korea during his work on defense aircraft systems.

Bill was a gentle and beautiful soul, a devoted lover of Jane Colfer, his life partner of fifteen years, his family, friends, and all animals. He was an avid show truck enthusiast, finishing a number of extraordinary show vehicles with his friends over countless hours in the garage. He also enjoyed travelling the world, loved dancing West Coast Swing and was an impressive dance competitor and champion. Bill loved his hometown, Grand Prairie, Texas, and built much of his south Grand Prairie home himself in the late 1970s, where he enjoyed gardening, welcoming many friends to sit on the deck and around the pool, and where he lived for more than forty years until the time of his death.

William Preston Crabtree is survived and will be dearly missed by his life partner, Jane Colfer; his stepdaughters of more than fifty years, Jeanette (Freddie) Jacinto, Jeanice (John) Swift; Jane’s daughters, Amy Mathis and Kelly Armbruster; his grandchildren, Christina (Joseph), Christopher (Jenne); great-grandchildren, Madison, Paxton, Makenzie, Avilee, and Adeline; Jane’s granddaughters, Kasey and Cameron; as well as many lifetime friends and neighbors.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish are invited to donate in his honor to Community Hospice of Texas, at Arlington Memorial Hospital, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, or to Black Hills Wild Mustang Sanctuary in Hot Springs, South Dakota.