Orval Crowder

Orval Crowder of Morrisburg died on Thurs., April 25, 2002 at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital. He was 87.
Born on Oct. 9, 1914 in Williamsburg Township, Mr. Crowder was the son of the late Archie and Ethel Crowder (nee Bowman). He was predeceased by Hazel Crowder (nee Robertson) and was the dear friend of Gladys Crowder (nee Schwerdtfeger) of Morrisburg.
He was the loving father of Alan (Sheila) of Boucks Hill, Jim (Lila) of RR1 Williamsburg and Brenda (Con) Pemberton of Inkerman. Dear brother of Bessie Swerdfeger of Iroquois. Predeceased by brothers Dwight and Claude.
He will be sadly missed by three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He is also survived by nieces and nephews.
Mr. Crowder worked for the Township of Williamsburg for 37 years before retiring in 1979.
In 1942, Mr. and Mrs. Crowder purchased a farm on the Hosaic Creek and he spent the next five years cutting and selling wood from the property to get money to buy machinery and cattle and make payments on the farm. This was hard work because all the work was done manually. One spring, he was helping repair one of the township's snow plows when the plow fell on both of Mr. Crowder's feet, damaging them badly. He had to wear casts on both feet for six months. He would strap plywood on the bottoms of the casts so that he could walk around outside.
Mr. Crowder was very competitive and, just for fun, he liked competing with other men to see who could lift the front end of a car or tractor off the ground, who had the fastest car, who had the fastest horse, or which one could cut through a log the fastest using a chainsaw.
He was very proud of his Dalmatian dog called Freckles. When his grandson Steve was small, he had long curls in his hair and Mr. Crowder did not think that looked right for a boy. One day, without saying anything to anyone about what he planned to do, Mr. Crowder took Steve to his neighbor, Muriel Gow, and had her cut the curls off. When the family asked him afterwards why he did it, Mr. Crowder said he wanted his grandson to look like a little boy, not a little girl.
In his later years, Mr. Crowder enjoyed working in the garden that he and Gladys Crowder planted on an annual basis.
Donations to Winchester District Memorial Hospital would be appreciated by the family.
There was no visitation at the funeral home. A graveside interment of cremated remains was held at New Union Cemetery, Williamsburg on Tues., April 30 with Rev. Sandy Macpherson officiating. Arrangements entrusted to the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg.