| About John J. Crawford |
| John Crawford was born on August 15, 1916, on a farm in Perry, Iowa. When he was three years old, his mother died giving birth to his youngest sister. Although his father was still in the home, and in the picture, John and all his siblings were primarily cared for by their two unmarried great-aunts. They taught him to read before entering school, and gave him a deep, enduring love of poetry and the Bible. The family was very poor, especially after the depression began, and it wasn't unusual for them to eat squirrel or other small animals they were able to shoot for themselves. Other food was rationed carefully. John carried a lifelong fear of rodents, however, even gerbils and hamsters. As a child he had once been awakended by a rat biting his nose. At one point, the family fell behind on their payments, and lost their modest farm. John took on a paper route and his earnings were used to help support the family. In his early teens, he helped his father, who had a night-watch job. John would guard the place while his father got enough sleep to be able to work his day job. John graduated from high school at 17 and attended college for a year before heading up to Detroit to work for the Ford Motor Company. In the early 1940s he moved to Buffalo New York. There he met Esther. After he voulenteered for the army service in 1942, John did counterintelligence woek in Europe until mid-1945. He then returned to Buffalo, and to Esther, who became his wife. They worked hard to raise their seven children, to keep them out of trouble, educate them, and keep a roof over their heads. John worked at General Motors in Buffalo from 1953 until his retirement. Although he never earned a college degree or used computer-assisted design, has his name included on patents for devices related to assembly-line production. Over the years, he played a leadership role in many organizations, including the Boy Scouts, the VFW, his church, and at several food pantries and soup kitchens in the Buffalo area. He often enlisted help from both his children and grandchildren in his work feeding the hungary. John Crawford, a man of caring, comfort, and courage, work tirelessly until a few days before his death on January 23, 2000, to make sure that others were fed. |