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Light a Candle
CRAWFORD ABEL KING, JR.
Memorial Service and Reception will be at Central Presbyterian Church, 7700 Davis Dr. at Hanley in Clayton, MO, February. 5 at 2:30 pm. Reception following ceremony.
Crawford Abel King, Jr. was born October 29, 1925, in La Grange, Illinois. His parents were Crawford Abel King, Sr. and Emma Betz King, he was an only child. Crawford's family moved to St. Louis in 1928 when his father joined Pohl & King Monument Company.
Crawford grew up in the monument business on North Broadway as both his father and grandfather were memorialists. • To the great surprise and delight of his parents, Crawford sold his first monument at the age 12 in the depths of the depression. His parents returned to the store from an errand to find a completed contract and payment in full. • He sold memorials ever since his last sale was on August 18, 2014.
Crawford graduated from Normandy High School and attended Westminster College. At Westminster, he was social chairman of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Certainly one of his highlights of his time at Westminster was attending Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech and shaking his hand afterward along with President Harry Truman.
After Westminster, he attended the BARRE Vermont School of Memorial Art. He studied with what turned out to be the greatest memorial designers in North America for his generation. He used his natural and acquired memorial design ability to successfully sell tens of thousands family and civic monuments over the years and never tired of explaining the fine points of design to his customers and employees.
Crawford worked at Pohl & King Monument Company for 77 years, with the last 45 years as president. He wanted to be the first person to sell a monument as a 100-year-old monument salesman. He worked 6 days a week opening the monument store in Wentzville and waiting on and selling to customers until he was 88 years old. He also was in charge of the of managing the cemetery, Eternal Peace, down the street.
He won many awards for his memorial designs with the best one being given by U. S. Congresswoman Leonor K. Sullivan for the Better Business Bureau for his design and installation of the memorial for the State of Missouri in Shiloh National Civil War Battleground in Tennessee.
After coming back from studying in Vermont, he was extremely active in the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees). One of his largest and best-known activities in the Jaycees was helping raise funds and supplies for Dr. Tom Dooley. Dr. Dooley was a missionary among other things in Laos, before the official U.S. involvement in the war.
He met Marion Buck at Pilgrim Church years earlier and married her on September 5, 1952. They were married 62 years. Marion was also extremely active in the Jaycees. Their highlight was being involved in the 1960 National Jaycee Convention held in St. Louis. Marion was hostess for a luncheon for 3500 ladies and Crawford was in charge of the kick-off to the convention party. It was his ideas to plan and throw a large outdoor party at the downtown riverfront for 10,000 people. He is credited with holding the first party of this sort at the riverfront. Of course, large parties of this size have been held annually by different groups there ever since.
He was in charge of Bryan's little league baseball team. Crawford stopped by the second practice of the newly founded second-grade baseball team and found only one other adult there – the manager. The manager informed Crawford that he had just been transferred out of town and could no longer be involved. Crawford came home with the equipment and inform his wife that by default he was the manager. Marion was a lifelong Cardinals fan, having grown up across the street from Sportsman Park where the Cardinals and Browns played, was thrilled to be involved with the team which lasted 7 years.
Crawford was a Civil War buff and active member in the Civil War Round Table. The St. Louis Chapter sponsored a life-size cannon and Civil War uniforms that they used in the reenactments throughout the Midwest. He was active in the group for 20 years and took place in many reenactment battles.
Crawford volunteered to be on the ballot of the village in which he lived, Pasadena Hills, and was elected trustee in 1974. He was appointed Village Marshal, the leader of the small police department. The wife of the marshal was always the license collector, so Marion got drafted into that position.
Crawford oversaw the police department all hiring and firing, policy changes and requirements to the rules that the St. Louis County Police and the State of Missouri required of small municipalities. Pasadena Hills police had few serious calls and anything major the county police came in.
Crawford had to go to special training to carry a gun and other classes the St. Louis County Police and the State of Missouri required.
Another entity Crawford was involved in was Sherwood Boat Haven on the Mississippi River. Crawford and his partner built and operated the marina for almost 20 years. Both his children were employed there weekends beginning at 6 and 10 years of age. The flood of 1973 almost wiped out everything they built. The marina was sold in 1978.
Crawford and Marion and family joined Central Presbyterian Church in 1965 and were “born again” under the direction of Dr. Andrew Jumper in the early 1970's. Crawford was involved in the prison ministry. Chuck Colson of Watergate fame, started a Christian organization to help people get back on their feet after serving time. Crawford because of his police activities would see people that deserved a second chance and did what he could when a member of the organization got out of prison. He helped many people with clothing, finding a job and finding a place to live.
On August 18, 2014, Crawford drove himself to the hospital where his heart stopped for a second or two while he was driving.
He was fine in the hospital getting a pacemaker installed the next day. The doctors also told him he needed open heart bypass surgery. The doctors told him that was too risky at his age and that a stent in the arteries leading to the heart was a lesser risk.
The surgery was successful and for a day or two, he seemed 20 years younger.
While he was on the phone to his nephew, John Hewitt, he had a stroke.
The doctors told us it was a major stroke and he lost the ability to walk and talk and initially all movement on his right side. He was given 2 weeks to live. He regained the use of his right side and did very well in the nursing home for 18 months. After a wonderful Christmas dinner, he took a turn and passed away on January 7, 2016.
He leaves behind his two sons and their families. Dr. Crawford A. King, Jr. of Tennessee and his 3 children, Katie Niehoff (Dan) of St. Louis, Ginger Schmidt (Adam) of Colorado, and Jessica Spayde (Andrew) of Madison, Wisconsin. Bryan King and his wife, Kristine and their 2 children attending college in Texas, Bryan Jr. King at SMU and Erica King at TCU.
Also, other family members include niece Mary Edna Hodson (Tom) of Champaign IL, Joe Fraser (Debbie) and David Fraser (Bobbie) all of Sandwich, IL. Nephew, John Hewitt, Jr. (Patty) of St. Louis and Paul Hewitt (Marla) of Washington D.C., Albert Buck (Barbara) of St. Louis and Claudia Sizelove (James) of Ohio.
