Chester Crawford
Godfrey | Save
Crawford, Chester (Chet) Ward, age 89, a kind man, devoted husband and loving father passed away Thursday, July 22nd, 2016.
He was born July 20th, 1927 in Wichita, KS growing up during the Great Depression and World War II. He was forced to quit high school and find work to support his mother in the 1940s and was subsequently drafted at age 18 into the US Army at the end of World War II. Having received an honorable discharge he returned to Wichita eventually finding employment at Airco Industrial Gases.
He married Frances (Pat) Casey of Sioux City, IA on Valentines Day 1953 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Wichita, KS. There they had four children moving to a small house in Maize, KS just outside of Wichita to raise them. Chet accepted a job transfer to the Airco gas reduction plant in East Alton, IL in 1965 and the entire family resettled from Kansas to Alton, IL. He retired from the then British Oxygen Company (BOC) in the spring of 1989 after 30 years of service. He survived a near fatal car accident just after World War II, two bouts of cancer and heart bypass surgery living an additional 29 years. Chet was an avid fisherman preferring the mountain lakes and streams of Wyoming and Montana, enjoyed pheasant and quail hunting on the plains of western Kansas, loved playing cribbage, rummy and Aggravation (marbles) with the neighbors and was a voracious and avid reader. He also enjoyed gardening and listening to classical and folk music. He and his wife also enjoyed opening their home to many foreign exchange students and teachers from Germany and Mexico and hosted countless foreign tennis players during the summer. He had a fun loving and an easy-going personality, a kind and disarming smile and was known for this terrific sense of humor and light-hearted jokes.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years Frances, son David (Margaret) Crawford, daughter Linda (Byron) Sutton, son Larry (Isabella) Crawford and son Joseph (Lisa) Crawford. Also surviving are 5 grandchildren Jennifer, Michael, Alexandra, Trevor and Erin and 4 great grandchildren Orrin, Sophie, Layla and Harry.
He was preceded in death by a half-brother Charles Crawford of Oklahoma, half-sister Nadine Kinney of Kansas, sister Lorene Morrison of California, infant sister June and younger brother Duane Crawford of Wichita, KS.
Visitation will be from 5 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at Elias, Kallal and Schaaf Funeral Home in Godfrey.
A Private family burial will be held at a later date at Valhalla Memorial Park in Godfrey.
Memorials may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Elias, Kallal and Schaaf Funeral Home in Godfrey is in charge of arrangements.
Online condolences and guest book may be found at www.eliaskallalandschaaf.com
Elias, Kallal & Schaaf Funeral Home
