Happy Birthday, PaPaw

Today, my grandfather, Benjamin Allen Crawford, Sr. would have been 116 years old. He was born in the little burb of Burgess, MS just outside of Oxford, Ms on November 12, 1894. He was the middle of three sons born to Frank Buford Crawford and Ida Sanders. He had a half sister named Zelph or Zilph, but every one called her Annie. In the census of 1900, there were 16 folks living in the Crawford household. My great-grandfather and great grandmother, great aunt, two great uncles, my grandfather, his aunt and four cousins whose surname was Briscoe and five boarders. Back then, high school went only to the 11th grade and my grandfather was finished with high school by the age of 17 around 1911. He and his older brother, Ivy were in the same class, if I remember the story correctly. Ivy went on to Ole Miss, and my grandfather went to work to help support the family as a brick mason. The war broke out in Europe in 1914, the year Papaw turned 20 and he was drafted, trained and shipped to France sometime in the fall of 1917 where he served in the Meuse Argon campaign. He was discharged sometime in 1919 and returned to the states to practice his trade as a brick mason.

By the time he got back to the states, his father was in failing health and had moved to Marianna, Arkansas where Annie, his half sister had moved and married a man by the name of Ike McCain. Ike and my Uncle Doc would become involved in the farming business in Marianna after Uncle Doc finished med school at Tulane University and moved to Marianna to set up his practice. Papaw met Ludie Mae Miller who was my great grandfather's nurse and they eventually married in about 1923. In April of 1925 my Aunt Nora was born and in November 1926, my dad came along.

Papaw was, by my remembrance, a hard working man. He loved good barbeque, beer and unfiltered Camel smokes and while he wasn't vocal about his faith, he was serious about the Bible. He was his own version of the Gideons; buying Bibles and distributing them to folks whenever and wherever he saw the need. I think about him almost daily and especially when I run across something that reminds me of his time here on earth.