Donald Ray Crawford

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Donald Ray Crawford, 73, of Mossyrock, Wash., passed away at his home on the morning of July 25, 2019. He was born July 12, 1946, to Donald Ray and Mary Elizabeth Crawford in Muskegon, Mich. They resided in Elma and Olympia and eventually moved to Tacoma. He was the second oldest of a large family of nine brothers and sisters, including a stepsister and stepbrother.

He was preceded in death by his parents; stepfather, John James I; baby sister, Rose Mary Taylor; sister, Linda O’Malley; stepbrother, Mike James; brother, James (Bimmer) Crawford; and wife, Julie White.

He is survived by his sister, Carol (Ernie) Sproul; brothers, Mikey Taylor and John James II; sister-in-law, Diana Crawford; stepsister, Patsy; stepsons, Kurt Johnson and Brian Johnson; daughters, Amy (Karel) Peltram and Wendy Crawford; along with grandsons, Keith, Christopher, Zachary, Anthony, Karel (Kaja) and Carson; and granddaughters, Bailey and Abigail.

Don was drafted into the Vietnam War out of high school, serving two tours from 1966 to 1967 and 1969 to 1970. He was recognized as a Jungle Expert and awarded many medals, including jungle expert, Good Conduct Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, three Overseas Bars and was an expert on the M-14, M-16 and M-60. He was honorably discharged after his service Dec. 10, 1971. Don went on to become a welder by trade and belonged to the Boilermakers Union Local 568 in Tacoma, where he worked in the shipyards and taught welding classes at the Union Hall. After retiring from the Boilermakers Union, he began fishing every chance he could with his wife, Julie, earning over 95 world and state records.

He put his heart and soul into everything he did and will be greatly missed. Donald’s funeral service will be held at 12:30 p.m., at the Tahoma National Cemetery, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, for anyone who would like to attend.