Thomas Eugene Crowder

Aug. 22, 1942 – Feb. 6, 2019

A memorial service for Thomas Eugene Crowder, 76, of North Bend, will be held at noon, Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Salmon Harbor Baptist Church in Winchester Bay, with a reception to follow in the undercroft of the church. Father Thomas Lee Crowder will officiate.

Thomas Eugene Crowder was born Aug. 25, 1942, in Marshfield, to Raymond and Dorene Crowder. He passed away Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019 in the early afternoon, at his home in North Bend, from complications due to Parkinson’s disease.

He lived in Booth, a no-longer extant town in the forests outside of Gardiner, and then moved to Gardiner. He attended school in Gardiner and Reedsport. After a stint in the United States Navy, he returned and married Jeri Lee Oct. 27, 1962. After working sometime in the woods, he went to butchers’ school in Ohio, and had a career with Safeway stores for 33 years. In 1999, he and Jeri both retired.

He had many interests, a lifelong love of collecting guns, knives, glass floats to Western Americana, whatever caught his fancy. He also enjoyed writing poetry and journals of his trips. His second greatest passion, wood-carving, was discovered after his retirement. For many years he belonged to the Woodcarving Club in Coquille, and produced four carousel animals, along with numerous smaller pieces.

His great passion was hunting; taught by his father, he taught his son, and others, how to hunt, and to shoot. He was an excellent marksman, and hunted often for big game, usually in Oregon, but also in Montana and Wyoming. Many of his greatest trophies are still with the family.

He leaves behind his wife of 56 years, Geraldine Lucetta Lee Crowder; his children, Thomas Lee Crowder, an Anglican Catholic priest living in Virginia, and Shelly Rene Crowder-Lyles, a business executive in Texas, with her husband, Marty; brothers, Ralph Crowder, Jim Crowder and wife, Rosie, Donald Crowder and wife, Deanna and Ron Crowder and JoAnn; sister, Bev Morse and husband, Gary; sisters-in-law, Susan Wheeler with Alvin Leach, and Pat Barnes; also many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, Raymond Crowder; mother, Dorene Carothers; and sister, Melba Hammer.

Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 541-267-4216.