Roy L. Crawford

Roy Lee “RC” Crawford of North Pole, Alaska, passed away April 3, 2019, from heart failure near KM 1352, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada.
He was born March 1, 1944 in Cool Ridge, W.Va., and raised on the family farm in Cool Ridge and in Ohio. He attended Shady Spring High School, Shady Spring, W.Va.
RC joined the U.S. Air Force in March 1961 and served with assignments in the U.S. and overseas. He particularly enjoyed several years spent in Spain working a special duty assignment as a falcon handler, training the raptors to scare other wildlife away from aircraft runways. He was a Vietnam veteran and served 20 years, retiring in April 1981 with an honorable discharge. After retirement he drove the Alaska Canada (AlCan) Highway to Alaska taking a civil service position at Eielson AFB and then a position at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He worked at the fuels tank farm on Ft. Wainwright below Birch Hill and spent many lunch hours on the hill befriending the wildlife.
In preparation for retirement from civil service, RC became owner/operator of the Badger Trading Post and Pawn in North Pole, Alaska, where he spent many years following his great love of making an ideal find for resale. After selling the business in 2001 he continued that enjoyment of searching for deals and added the joy of traveling by RV with his Val throughout the U.S. and Mexico.
In the following years RC had the opportunity to spend time back on the family farm in Cool Ridge. He also established a winter home in Arizona where he spent winters enjoying the warmer weather and shopping!
RC was a member of The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).