Charles Crawford

Charlie was born June 1, 1923 in Louisville, Kentucky. Early in Charles' life his Uncle Chalky and Aunt Lula moved him to Hamtramck, Michigan where he was raised and received his education. While a student at Hamtramck High School, Charles sang in the choir and was also what people called a triple threat (he always told anyone he would see in a Varsity jacket that he played the sports in school). In 1943 Charles enlisted in the United States Army to serve our country. During his service to the country he fought in WWII where he received a Purple Heart with his discharge in 1945. Charles married his first wife after returning home and they had one son in their union together. Both his first wife and son preceded him in death. Charles also had two brothers, his mother, uncle and aunt that raised him also precede him in death. Charlie would say, "I've lived longer than anyone in my family." He started saying that in his 70's so the power of life and death is truly in the words that you speak. Charlie later drove for the city cab in Detroit, Michigan; during that time he visited a lot of pool halls. He then met and married the love of his life, Georgeann and her two kids that he assisted in raising. They lived an awesome life together until the Christmas of 1992 when she was called home. During their lifespan together Charles was employed with Chrysler UAW 869 where he started off as a laborer, then he drove fork lift and later he became a committeeman in which he serviced as Sergeant at Arms until his retirement in 1981. Charles and Georgeann also helped raise their grandchildren; started family traditions such as: catching the DOT to opening day of the festival's at Hart Plaza, the Jazz Festival, Family Friday Fish Frys, Christmas Eve for gifts, watching Local 869 play baseball at Lasky Park on every Wednesday, going to the Hamtramck Carnival every year, as well as the UAW annual picnic and Christmas party. During the summer they would take the grandchildren to a Tigers baseball game. Every day in the summer the grandchildren had to go with them to Evans Recreational Center where Chuck would beat everyone that came into the pool room. Chuck would show off because his family was there and it was also during that time that he showed Floyd how to shoot pool by positioning the stick and let Floyd make the shot, or put one hand behind his back and call a crazy shot and of course he would make them; basically during that time Chuck would run the table. He won 15 trophies in three years, but there eventually came a time when Chuck would stop competing and only played pool for fun. Then we found out that Charlie was a beast in dominoes. Between him playing dominoes and cards Charlie then named himself "The Hulk". Mom says that Charlie called himself "The Hulk" during his plant life. Makes you smile on what type of Sergeant at Arms he was. In 2007, Charlie relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana with his only daughter and family and he came to know of his great-grandchildren. They enjoyed knowing someone who was old enough to have been in WWII, playing cards with, speaking French to them and hearing his catch phrases. His granddaughter, Kori said he always knew her name he even named her Cokollata, and he always tried to scare anyone he could. The first time Corey saw him dressed up he gave Charlie another nickname, "Cool Breeze" because of the way he walked. While living with his daughter, they continued some of the family traditions, including traveling to Orlando, Florida. On June 1st of every year they had cake and ice cream for his birthday. Then it became a time when Charlie needed 24 hour care, and during that time the family made a decision to place him in Countryside Meadow Nursing Home where Charles assumed he was the youngest and smartest resident in the room. Charlie played cards, bingo and sang songs with the other residents. He would often yell at the other residents not to do something, because they were old and were not in their right mind. The family would bring him some sort of snack at least once a week. Charlie's favorite snack was some sort of ice cream or chocolate. Charles would occasionally speak to the staff at the nursing home. A couple of years later Charles, "Charlie", "Chuck", "The Hulk", "Cool Breeze" Crawford transitioned on the 17th day of June 2014 at I.U. West Hospital. He leaves cherished memories to his daughter, Ocie Williams (Michael); granddaughter, Tenise Chandler (Rev. Corey); grandson, Floyd Taylor; eight great-grandchildren; a host of loving family and friends.