1920 – 2006

Our beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Brother and Friend passed away at his Logan home on Saturday, 11 Mar 2006 at the age of 85.

George W. Crookston was the 2nd son born to Byron Frank and Emeline Alleman Crookston on 30 Dec 1920 in Logan, Utah.

When George’s 4th grade class had a valentine’s coloring contest, he won first prize. He also won 1st place in the high jump at his sixth grade track meet.

He attended Whittier School and graduated from Logan High School Class of 1940.

From a very young age, George liked the outdoors. As he grew up, George was very active in scouting. He went on the first five Jim Bridger trips. He hiked to the tops of Kings Peak in Utah and Gannett Peak in Wyoming.

He loved to fish and hunt. He tied his own flies and made his own lures. He got his first pheasant at age 14, and his first 4-point buck at age 16. At 18, he got his Senior and Junior Red Cross life saving badges.

He started skiing at age 16-18. He raced at Snow Basin, Jackson Hole, and all of the local races at Beaver Mtn. He would set the race courses for the College and Intramural ski races. After he was married, he also helped with coaching the USU Ski team.

George took his own boys, with some of neighbor boys, skiing, hiking, camping, fishing and boating. He taught them to love the out of doors as he did.

George hunted mountain lions and bobcats with Carl Felix and Theo Smith. He secured elk permits and got them. He hunted ducks with Dr. T.B. Budge. He really enjoyed those times.

He was drafted into service during World War II and served in the Medic Air Corps. He was stationed in the U.S. for a time before being sent overseas to the South Pacific. There, he served in New Guinea, the Philippines, and in Okinawa where he was when the war ended.

While in the service, George worked in first aid tents and small hospitals and then, later, worked in an ambulance crew at the airstrips. His job was to get pilots and flight crews out of damaged or crashed airplanes, administer aid to them, and then bring them to safety.

George loved photography and took a lot of colored slides - mostly of Logan Canyon. His best were made into prints and framed.

After George was discharged from the service, he worked at the experiment farm in North Farmington. While there, he met Virginia Sjoblom and they were married on November 25, 1946 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have been married for 59 years.

George worked for 37 years at USU in the Plumbing and Heating Dept. He wielded all of the gas lines on campus with no leaks.

George was an avid snowmobiler in the winter and he rode 4-wheelers in the summer.

George worked with the older scouts (explorers) both in his ward and later in the stake. He took boys to many trips in the mountains, down in flood waters, and out on the dessert. He took them to visit different departments at USU where professionals would explain their fields. Other interesting trips, included the Bob Larsen’s Sporting store, and the Nelson Funeral Home.

He bought his children and scouts penny books and taught them about coin collecting. Each week, they would compare their books and see what they had found.

He had phone calls, in the last few years, from men that he taught in scouting and that he worked with on campus. They called to thank him for his good example and for the neat experiences that he shared with them.

George had always been active in the LDS church, being a member of the Logan 5th Ward all of his life. He served in the Logan Temple Baptistery for 18 years. He was a faithful home teacher and held the office of High Priest.

He was always doing something for someone else to make it easier for them. He was a man of great integrity. He was hard working, industrious and was always trying to improve the way things worked. His family has benefited from his great example and he will be missed but never forgotten.

Surviving George are his wife, and thier children, Renee (Dennis) Spencer, Pocatello, Idaho; Gary (Ilene) Crookston, Smithfield, Utah; Boyd (Janice) Crookston, North Logan, Utah; Floyd (Tammy) Crookston, Providence, Utah; and Kristy (Scott) Poulsen, Smithfield, Utah. Also, 39 Grandchildren & 41+ great-grandchildren.

Also surviving are George’s brothers and sisters including Lynn Crookston, Ray (Marvel) Crookston, and Donna (Lowell) Jenkins.

He was proceeded in death by his mother & father, his baby brother, Rulon, his sister Lola and her husband Aldine Harline 2 sisters-in-law, Carol & Marvel, 2 nieces, and 3 great-grandchildren.

The family wishes to thank the hospice caregivers that provide such loving care to George and his family, especially to Dodie Lemieux.

Funeral services will be at noon on Wedsnesday, March 15, at the 5th Ward Chapel, 502 E. 300 N., Logan.

Friends and family are invited to attend a viewing which will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, at the Allen-Hall Mortuary, and at the church one hour prior to the funeral service. Interment will be in the Logan Cemetery. Condolences may be extended to the family at Allen Mortuaries.