Franklin-Fulton County GaArchives Obituaries.....Crawford, Thomas Robert April 27, 1956
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Evie Whitfield http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00024.html#0005876 October 1, 2011, 5:05 pm

Carnesville Herald, May 3, 1956
Carnesville Herald
 Thursday, May 3, 1956
 
Funeral services for Tom R. Crawford, 68, of Lavonia, and a native of Franklin 
County, were held Sunday afternoon at the A. S. Turner Funeral Home in 
Decatur.  Burial was in Melwood Cemetery.  He died in a Milledgeville Hospital 
Thursday night following a major operation.
    Mr. Crawford, a great lover of Franklin County, and of people, was born in 
the Gumlog Section of Franklin County, on August 20, 1886, a son of the late 
J. S. and Rhody Mary Davis Crawford.  He attended Davis and Lavonia Schools 
and then went to Shenandoah College at Dayton, VA.  Following the schooling, 
he returned to his farm, adjoining the homeplace and farmed and taught singing 
schools in Frank, Hart and Stephens County and in South Carolina for a number 
of years.
    Around 1911, he and Mrs. Crawford the former Miss Carrie Wilson of the 
Liberty Community of near Carnesville, moved to Lavonia where he was in the 
mercantile business.  They moved to Atlanta around 1935, where Mr. Crawford 
was a salesman for a number of hardware and paint companies traveling 
throughout the southern states.
    Along with his farming and other business interests, Mr. Crawford never 
lost his love for music and people.  On his business trips throughout the 
South, he could always find time to look up former Franklin CCountians - he 
was interested in hearing about their families and successes and like to pass 
the information on to their other friends through the medium of his 
column "Atlanta News", in the Lavonia Times.  He never missed an opportunity 
to attend an all day singing where he could take part in the song service as 
well as enjoy the fellowship of the people.
    Mrs. Crawford will be greatly missed by his family and friends.
    Survivors include his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters, Arthur Crawford of 
Atlanta, Woodrow Crawford of Orland, FL, Mrs. Jenny Lind Heist of Clarkston, 
Mrs. Mary King of Atlanta; two sisters, Mrs. W. H. Smith and Mrs. W. A. Thomas 
of Martin; 3 brothers, G. D. Crawford, Van A. Crawford and W. A. Crawford, all 
of Lavonia.
 
 
Carnesville Herald
Thursday, May 3, 1956
 
TOM CRAWFORD PENS "30"
 by Billy Dilworth
 
One of Franklin County's biggest and most loyal supporters for the past half 
century, T. R. Crawford passed away in a Milledgeville hospital Friday morning.
    Crawford, famous for his weekly writings in The Lavonia Times and a 
gentleman who shared the same page many weeks with Red Hill News, stood for 
the upright things in life.  His main interest was church work and his talent 
lay in music.
    The Atlanta News columnist wrote his column regularly two months before 
that fatal hour.  And his items dealt with friends he'd met so far and near - 
at home and away.  He loved people.  Leo Aikman, Atlanta Constitution 
editorial writer, once describer Mr. Crawford as "a fellow who should be 
pushing a pencil full time rather than selling a paint brush."  Crawford had 
that writing talent, an instinct born to share ides with thousands of people.
    We hold a sad heart.  A flavor known as the Crawford flair of writing will 
be missed in these columns.  But it makes those of us who have a desire to 
write to the people work harder, knowing Mr. Crawford would have done just 
that.
    In an issue dated Sept. 24, 1954, Atlanta News, Mr. Crawford wrote, "This 
time Franklin folks were well pleased over results of the state primary on 
Sept.8, in which Ernest Vandiver was so overwhelmingly elected Lt. Gov. of 
Georgia.  Of course,  Franklin Countians were for Mr. Vandiver, and so they 
voted for him and really expected his election.  The Vandivers conducted their 
campaign in a splendid manner."
    (Two paragraphs omitted.) - Mostly deals with the Vandivers.
    And now, our tribute comes to an end - to a man who wrote reams and reams 
of paper for this newspaper, to a man who shook many hands in gathering news, 
to a man who stood for regular church attendance and all that was good.  The 
journalistic profession will note his absence.
    And, Mr. Crawford writes "30", the journalist's symbol for "The End".
    
 



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