Obituary of William L. Crawford

William Crawford Vestal: William (Bill) L. Crawford, 93, long time resident of Vestal, NY lost his short battle with cancer on October 3, 2011. He died peacefully, surrounded by family including his wife of 73 years Marion Louise (Williams) Crawford. Bill was born in Endicott, NY, son of Alvin and Marion Crawford. He had a full, happy and very successful life, giving first priority to a family of four children, ten grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. He had to leave Union Endicott High School to find work to help support his family during the Great Depression. His education and work success at IBM earned him the title Engineer. Bill received several promotions, awards and bonuses for patent suggestions throughout his 37 year tenure. Bill founded Tone Alerting Services. Using his technical and entrepreneurial skills, he introduced Plectron equipment to hundreds of upstate New York and Pennsylvania volunteer fire companies. This new technology enabled a much faster response time to life and property saving emergencies. Bill was a volunteer fireman at the Vestal Fire Department Company #1 for 37 years advancing to the position of Lieutenant. His community service also included nine years service to Meals on Wheels, 35 years as Charter and Life Member of the BPO Elks Vestal Lodge 2508 and Member of the Vestal Sportsmen. He enjoyed spending time camping with his family and in his spare time he enjoyed bowling, hunting, playing cards, pool and golf. Bill is survived by his children, Jo-Ann (Robert) VanDeventer of Newark Valley, NY; Dean (Laura) Crawford of Palm City, FL; and Bonnie (Craig) Evans of Roanoke, VA. He was predeceased by another daughter, Nancy Lord of Vestal, NY. He is also survived by grandchildren, John Lord, Woodstock, GA; Michael Lord, Rochester, NY; Kyle (Kristin) Crawford, Palm Harbor, FL; Deron VanDeventer, Endicott, NY; Molly (Wesley) Blanchard, Charlotte, NC; Kristen (James) Rice, Buffalo, NY; Megan Evans, Charlotte, NC; Kevin (Susan) VanDeventer, Johnson City, NY; and Allison Crawford, Dallas, TX. Another, granddaughter, Kelly Crawford, predeceased him. He is also survived by two sisters, Irene Carosella and Sharon DellaPenta, and was predeceased by brothers, Harold, Charles (Don), Marion, Merton, Raymond and Truman. Funeral Services are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 6, 2011 at Coleman & Daniels Funeral Home, 765 Main St, Vestal and is followed by interment at Vestal Hills Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 10:00 a.m. until service time at 11:00 a.m. The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Vestal Volunteer Fire Company #1 or Meals on Wheels.