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David Ray Croft
Born: January 22, 1947,
Coleman, Coleman County, Texas
Died: March 9, 2007, Oceanside, California
Cremated
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David Croft - 1965 |
 David Croft - February 2006 |
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| Something About David ..... PARENTS: Roy Croft (deceased) and Dorothy (Mrs. R. E.) Freeman. FAMILY: Married 1st - Diane Dvorcek (June 19, 1971, Illinois); married 2nd - Jenine Tague (May 6, 1978, Illinois); married 3rd - Ellen (California). Children: Adam David Croft (November 25, 1974); Travis Ryan Croft (November 28, 1978 - deceased). ARRIVED HERE: Born in Coleman. ATTENDED CISD: 1st through 12th grade - Class of 1965 Graduate. EDUCATION: Electronics at DeVry Tech, Chicago; welding at trade school, Chicago; Viet Nam, Class of 1969. OCCUPATIONS: Gold miner; cat operator; since I have P.O. Box #1, people call me the Mayor! HOBBIES: Women, Shiatzu massage, writing short storys and books, collecting jokes, some bass guitar, trying to find ways to get out of work, studying the judicial system, layman photography. UP - DATE: "Well, I wasn't voted the most likely to succeed in 1965, so I guess my peers knew something. However, I learned survival, and I'm alive and kickin' and keepin' everyone jumpin'. When I left Coleman, I did extensive travel about the US, both by vehicle and by thumb, where I unexpectedly received my greatest education. I worked as an electronic technician for Xerox for 9 years from 1966 to 1975, with an interlude of the Army from 1967 to 1969; where I did a tour of Viet Nam in Saigon, Pleiku, Da Nang, and various locations of the Central Highlands. In the interim from 1965 until now, I drove a truck from Dallas to Houston, started two carpentry businesses in Chicago and Austin, worked on pipelines in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Texas. Finally decided to be a prospector for GOLD, a subject on which I wrote a book. I was married twice and had two sons. I'm currently holding mining claims in Northern California, doing freelance catapillar work, pissing and moaning, laughing and joking, and awaiting life's next turn. Hope you all fare well, have good energy, and a sunny day with a little cloud for shade." (1985). (David's mother reports that he was raising Emus in 1995.) (CHS Class of 1965 - 1995 Directory)
From Ralph Terry
... "I knew David from a very early age. His Grandfather
Bennett lived a couple of blocks from our house on Lackland Street,
before my family moved to the country east of Coleman. After West
Ward, Junior High and High School, we drifted out of touch, as many of
us did. He moved back to Coleman
County in the late 1970's and stayed for a few years. He was
married
at the time and had one son, Adam. David always liked to see new
places and see new things. After Coleman he moved to California
and
lived in the Camptonville area of northern California. He
prospected
for gold and later was buying water rights to use for hydroelectric
energy. David always stopped by and visited whenever he was in
Coleman. In February 2006, he decided to move his mother to
Camptonville to live with him. He had prostate cancer at that
time,
was taking treatments and had been given only a few years to
live. I
helped him (along with Judia, Diann and John Dillingham and David's
step-daughter, Alix) load up a large rental truck for that trip,
pulling his car, also loaded with household goods. He did make to
back
to Camptonville and stayed in touch through occasional emails (see below)."
"February 25, 2006 Alix and I spent 2 (very fast, it seems) nights with Ellen and were on the road at 4 am this morning. Rolled into Camptonville about a 1/4 to 4 this afternoon. Unloaded the car and had a bite at the local bar and now off to bed for me at the early hour 8:30 pm. Will start unloading tomorrow at 10 am. We have at least one person to help. Think I will unload the back 1/4 to include the washer/dryer and stove here at the house and then take the rest about 40 miles to a storage shed. It is a done deal ... finally ... I return the truck today. Filled two 10x10x10 units and brought stuff home to fill my car shed. I need to get out of here to return the truck, so will catch you later. Cannot thank all of you enough!!! Hope to see you make it to California one of these days and just hang out with us for awhile. Will talk later ... David" "March 3, 2006 Hello my friends ~;o)
Thinking
of you guys a lot lately. Still not quite back on track and have
boxes setting in the living room. Have had a snow almost every
day since our return and without power for a couple of days .... so it
would seem God and PG&E said "start the generator, sit
down, watch movies, and relax for a day." So this is what
Alix and I did. As you can see, the cabin is not much of a place,
but it is warm and cozy inside. I plan to blow the right wall out
another 5 or 6 feet, put in the other arched window and put on a second
floor so it will be more functional. There is a loft upstairs now
that Alix stays in. If I extend the wall a little, it will
provide for 2 bedrooms downstairs and a huge bedroom and bath
upstairs. The double wide mobile for my mother is just on the
other side of the blue spruce in the left foreground. It's not
much but it is home for now and serves me well. I go for my
second hormone implant Monday. I also braved the snow storm early
this morning and went to see my GP and had a PSA done just to see what
is going on, so maybe I will know something more next week. In
the midst of all the confusion (and hard work), it was best of all to
get to spend a little time with all of you. I hope I get things
settled down fairly quickly, and it would be a great pleasure to have
you all come to California for a visit in the near future.
Thank Ya'll for everything ... David"         Home ... At Last!!! "March 5, 2007 ...
Hey guys, I am writing to you both at the same time, because I have been so
lax in getting back to you for all the help you offered when I needed it so
much ... it has not all been intentional. I had wanted to do something special
for each of you, maybe send you to the Brownwood chiropractic for several
treatments, send some health green drink, or even some Harry and David's Comish
pears, but seems something kept interfering with my good intentions.
Is there anything special that I could send to you that would
have any special meaning? From the time I left, I have been battling my
cancer pretty non stop, and I am now in Southern California with my wife Ellen and basically in
hospice. I have anywhere from days to weeks ... oddly enough, I was having
problems swallowing and thought it was my hiatal hernia so we were going to
stretch it while in the hospital and make eating a little easier for
me ..... instead they found a 4" esophagi cancer that has spread to my lungs,
liver, and stomach and is even more resistant to treatment and deadlier than the
prostate cancer. The hospital sent me home and I threw up about 1 1/2 gal of blood
the next day and had to 911 back to the hospital for another week.
There is no sense to resuscitate any further bleeding, so the
doctors think I will have a bleeding issue and my heart will stop. They sent
me home with hospice, so I am now just biding time and trying to control pain
management until the final day.
I want you both to know just how SPECIAL friends you have been in
my life, (you too, Judia) and I am very glad to have spent that time loading the
truck with you and having had you meet my step daughter. The last 7 years of my life with my wife taught me a lot and I
feel that I have been a very blessed man.
I love you all dearly and glad to have had the opportunity to
have had you in my life.
A classmate and friend,
David" "March 16, 2007 ...
Ralph and Judia I am writing to let you know that David died on March 9th. He
passed away in our home in Oceanside. His sister and mother did make it in time
to talk with him Thursday afternoon and he was never lucid on Friday after 5
a.m.
I will miss him a great deal.
I
also wanted to thank you for all your help and kindness when my
daughter was there helping David move his mother. She was very
happy to have a warm comfortable place to sleep for the night.
She was also very inspired by Judia's non drying oil paint! She
took a lot of inspiration with her from your house. Thank
you. We have had a very difficult year. It was very hard
for David to come to terms with his rapidly deteriorating condition and
he didn't really know how to cope with it as it overtook him so
rapidly. I appreciating your helping him so much.
Ellen"
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