VIRGIL L. McCRAW

Virgil Lee McCraw, 54, died March 1, 2008 at home in Palmer of natural causes. A church service will be held at West Valley Family Church in Wasilla on Aug. 10 by Pastor Paul Trissel and a celebration of life by family and friends will be held Aug. 12 at the Aero Space Museum in Anchorage.

McCraw was born Aug. 12, 1953 in Fresno, Calif. He was in the US Navy in a construction battalion serving in Vietnam and in Diego Garcia.

He was a resident of Alaska since 1970. He attained his journeyman carpenter status through a four-year Alaska Training School in the mid 1970s. In 1995, he graduated cum laude from the University of Alaska Anchorage with honors and four certificates of excellence in architectural drafting, civil engineering drafting, mechanical and electrical drafting and in structural drafting.

He lived more than 30 years in Alaska and the past eight in Palmer. McCraw retired from Western Washington and the Southern Alaska Carpenter Union 1281 in 1990. From the mid ’70s until his injury in 1990 he worked on many of the largest construction projects in Anchorage including several phases of Providence Hospital, several phases of the Dimond Mall, the Performing Arts Building, the George Sullivan Arena and many more. He also worked building many of the Molly Hootch Bush schools out of the Bethel area during the early ‘80s.

He was an avid NRA member with several skeet and shooting range memberships. He is a former member of the Black Sheep Archery Club. He served his local homeowners association as a committee chairman and worked on a number of improvements to benefit of his local subdivision.

His favorite activities were anything that included his two grandsons and his wife. He enjoyed daily phone calls with his daughter and spending time with his two sons. He enjoyed camping, hunting and fishing. He loved reloading, working on his guns, skeet shooting, archery, bow and arrow making, fly tying and going out on his boat.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Elda; his sons Bryant of Palmer and Kyle of Anchorage; his daughter and son-in-law Sabrina and John Jockusch of Mountain Home, Idaho, and their sons Little John and Adam. Also surviving are his mother Gatha Lloyd of Dinuba, Calif.; brother Doug McCraw and sister Stella Hollinger, both of Washington; two nephews and two nieces and their families, including Jenny Earnest and family of Anchorage and Mark Hollinger and family of Wasilla.

He was preceded in death by his father Virgil L. McCraw and his oldest brother Joel McCraw.

In lieu of flowers an account has been set up at Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union. Donations from the account (Virgil’s Memorial Fund) will be given in his name to the Friends of the National Rifle Association for the youth shooting team and a local medical care facility that assisted McCraw several times over the past 10 years.