Memorial Day

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Resting in the Crayne Cemetery are the remains of Ellis B. Ordway, World War I Veteran, and the first Crittenden County young man to give the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  He was a Crayne citizen and the son of William and Julia Ordway. 

He was in Co. A 16th Infantry.  His comrades spoke of him as a brave soldier.  He was sent to the front to Aragonne Forest, where he was wounded twice by a machine gun in the right let on the 17th day of July 1918 and he died July 26th, 1918 from his wounds. at the young age of 23.

Although he died in 1918, his remains weren't returned home to Crayne until April 1921.  His service was conducted in the presence of a large crowd of sympathetic friends at the Crayne Presbyterian Church.  The remains were wrapped in the American Flag, for which he fought and died.

He has a family tombstone.

Other veterans that have military markers are:  Raymond Fletcher, WWI; Burnie Rogers, WWI; Clarence Holloman, WWI; Roy Boisture, WWI; Denton Crider, WWI; Norvel Tabor, WWI; Jonas Rushing,WWI; Sgt. Frank Evans, Spanish American War, Phillipines, and WWI.

Henry Ewell Baird, WWII; Harlan Rushing, WWII; James Moss;, WWII; George Hubert Deboe, WWII, Edward Benedict, WWII.

James Woodall Homeplace

 

Although not right in the heart of Crayne, James and Melva Woodall and son Tracy were always a part of the Crayne Community, as were the other families that lived on the Crayne Cemetery Road .  

The children of the families that lived on the Crayne Cemetery road always attend the Crayne School, and some attended the Crayne Churches.  Their lives were always a part of the community and in the years past most everyone was kin to each other one way or the other.  So we were all like family.

The picture above is of James and Melba first home.  They lived here all the years that I was growing up.  The home always a familiar sight as you drove by.  The house has sat empty now for several years.  James and Melba are both deceased and buried in the Crayne Cemetery.  Son Tracy has sold the home place and farm, and today as I drove by on my way the the cemetery, I saw that the old home has been taken down.  It's just a bare spot were the house used to sit.   Things change, time goes on, but it's rather lonely now without the familiar old house on the hill.

(Picture made in May of 2009)

Myers Grocery

One of the grocery stores that Crayne used to have was the Myers Grocery.  It was owned and operated by Allie and Mary Emma (Dorroh) Myers.  The block building was built in 1960, on the location of the former Dorroh's Store.  The inventory consisted of groceries and some hardware.

This is a picture of the store in 1961.  In the picture are left to right: Henry Ordway, Allie Kirk and Mr. Allie Myers, owner of the store.

Later they sold the inventory to a Mr. and Mrs. Locket Nunn of Sturgis.  in 1964 Mr. and Mrs. Nunn moved the store inventory to old Kuttawa.

At right is a 1961 ad for their store from the Crittenden Press.  Look at those prices. 

The building was later used as an antique store for several different people.  It was opened as the Crayne Grocery some years back, but it didn't last long and now is empty again except for storage by the owners.  The people that owned the building  and tried to run a grocery store said the food trucks said they didn't buy enough to pay them to stop, so they had to close.