Robert Lyman Crawford-Brown

Robert Lyman Crawford-Brown left this Earth on his next great adventure on 28th July,
2026 at 9:40 p.m. in Central Okanagan Hospice House, Kelowna, BC. His valiant, loving
heart had done its best and it was time to go.

Born in Toronto, ON, 12th September 1934 to Major Lyman Melvin Crawford-Brown[48th Highlanders] and his wife, Stair Lyon. In his lifetime Bob saw society and the
world around him change many times, from horse-drawn delivery wagons in the
’30s, to big cars and boom days in the ’50s, to computers and exciting space
discoveries now. Through it all Bob continued to learn and adapt.
Bob wore many hats beginning with the peaked caps of Upper Canada Prep
School and Crescent School. Freely admitting he was no student other than in
history and literature, Bob pursued his own interests. Schoolmates clamoured for
his poster painted cardboard cowboy hats and shoebox radios with moveable
dials.

After a year at Northern Vocational, almost age 16, Bob donned a fedora and grey
gabardine suit heading west on the CPR passenger train to Vancouver Island.
There he found employment with Western Forest Products and traded his fedora
for a tin hat. Working for almost 4 years on the timber deck in Lake Cowichan. Bob
said he never “made friends with that slimy hemlock!” When forestry shut down in
summer Bob joined the Army Reserve or fought forest fires.
Hearing that his family planned a move to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bob returned
to Ontario to say farewell. After working as a surveyor’s helper near Malton airport,
he followed in late 1954. No hats were part of his life in Florida while he worked on
bridge construction and barges plying the New River.

Unlike Canada, the United States had the military draft, so in October 1956
Bob determined to join the US Navy and take a trade. At that point the white “Dixie
Cup” became his hat.

First was boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Chicago, Illinois; then
“A School” in Norman, Okla. where he began studying Naval Air Support
photography. Next was aerial photography, mapping, and photo interpretation in
Tallahassee, Florida. Eventually his Navy career consisted of photo interpretation
and flight plan layout for Navy planes flying over Cuba during the Cuban missile
crisis. His fianl two postings were to Norfolk, Virginia and Jacksonville, Fla.
One night his chief petty officer called Bob aside and showed him some
information. “I want this charted by morning,” he ordered. Faced with an unfamiliar
“Leroy set” and a long parachute table covered with a roll of paper, Bob struggled
to determine how to do lettering with this odd tool. Despite many false starts and
much frustration, by dawn Bob had acceptable charts for his superior.

On leave, Bob haunted book stores and visited many churches to enjoy the
preaching. He read voraciously in ancient history from all continents. His reading
about explorers, fur traders and Indigenous people of North America eventually led
him to geology, paleontology, and finally, by life’s end, quantum physics. His
marvellously retentive mind for names and facts led him deeply into many subjects
and made him an interesting speaker.

Discharged in June 1962, Bob headed to Chicago with his ever-growing collection
of books, photography skills and the “Leroy set” where he was hired by Market
Research to lay out advertising and statistical charts. Hats did not feature largely
then but books, music and a growing interest in woodwork, did. When Market
Research planned a move to New York, Bob returned to Toronto.

Hats were absent between 1964 and 1972 as Bob freelanced in advertising sales,
and built cabinetry for businesses. Eventually he was hired by the Toronto Health
Department on the strength of his understanding of some mathematical charts no
one else could read. Often Bob joked calling himself “Rat Man” because his
principal job as public health inspector was checking downtown businesses and
homes for rats and assorted vermin.

In 1972 Bob’s father died, and after reacquainting himself with Florida and disliking
the changes, he returned to Canada, where his life took a major turn.
Leaving Toronto’s “rat race” behind, he, with friends, moved to St Joseph Island,
east of Sault Ste Marie.
The employment Bob had been promised fell through, but his entrepreneurial spirit
took over, and he determined to begin seriously making furniture and carvings to
sell. Renting an old farmhouse he set to work, this time wearing a straw hat
sporting a feather, and in winter the very necessary toque!

One day while he was carving a shaped leg for a trestle table, a young woman
rode in on her bike. She was hunting for antique bottles. Bob graciously showed
her to the midden. As they chatted, he realized he had found a kindred spirit who
shared many of his interests. She found his mind fascinating. Talking continued.
Before long, Bob was no longer a bachelor but, at age 40, the head of a small
family. JM learned to finish their wood products while he worked at other carpentry
jobs, beginning a partnership that would see them creating and building together
for the next 52 years. He always said “That’s when my REAL life began!”
By 1980 Bob and his wife had built a house on 25 acres while raising their children
and continuing to craft cradles, chests, and carvings, several items winning
awards both locally and provincially.

The very early ’80s were hard economic times so shortly after moving into their
house, Bob went to work for the Bridge and Building gang with Algoma Central
Railway running north out of Sault Ste Marie. His headgear was a hard hat until
the ACR sold out and Bob was retired.

Before this, the family had sold their Island home, and moved to “the Soo”. But
with children grown, Bob and JM began their “rolling retirement”, buying a condo in
Kingston, ON.

There Bob found a space to continue woodwork and began crafting bodhrans,
drumming with Irish musicians, a musical interest he had for some time. After a
few enjoyable years, travelling about historical areas, they wondered “what else?”
JM suggested blindly sticking a pin in the map and choosing the closest main city.
It landed on Wynyard, SK. With Saskatoon being the closest main city, the condo
was sold and they went adventuring.

Hats returned when Bob, finding himself too young for full retirement, joined the
Northern branch of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires in Saskatoon. Their
muskrat fur hat in winter was much appreciated.
His main posting, nights at Royal University Hospital’s visitor desk, allowed for
drawing in the quiet times. Meticulously coloured pencil drawings were shown and
sold while in Saskatoon but the real draw was travelling and exploring SK and AB.
Bob’s very deep interest in dinosaurs and the Mesozoic era led to a dig at East
End, and visits to any and all dinosaur exhibits and sites in those two provinces.
Exploring, he sported his “Indiana Jones” adventure hat.

When two daughters and a grandchild relocated to Kelowna, BC, Bob and JM
followed but their stay was short. Still for two years Bob wore the ball cap of the
BC Corps of Commissionaires. Family commitments led to another move to
Edmonton, AB but here, in 2005, Bob suffered a major heart attack. No bypass
was possible; the blockages were inside his heart.

One would expect full retirement now but after much rehab, Bob and JM joined the
Strathcona Seniors Center which had both woodwork and pottery spaces. Bob set
to crafting a cedar chest for one grandchild, a rocking chair for another, side tables
and a desk for JM.
This set off a spate of furniture building they termed “balcony built”. After their
return in 2007 to Vernon and then to Kelowna, where Bob last lived, they
continued to construct much for themselves and to give away. The saws finally put
away in 2025 as energy no longer could support ideas.

Bob was predeceased by his father, Lyman Crawford-Brown; mother, Blanche
Elizabeth Stair Lyon; sister, Lynne Eallien McIntyre; stepmother, Barbara George;
and stepsister, Barbara “Boo” Crawford-Brown.

He is survived by his wife and teammate of 52 years, Jessie Maridel [nee Powis],
and four children: April [Ken Wall], London, ON; John [Danica Jovanivic], New
Westminster, BC; Sylvia Crawford, Edmonton, AB; and Amber [John Bondar],
Sault Ste Marie, ON. Eight grandchildren will also greatly miss Grandpa Bob.
Also surviving are Bob’s sister Gail Cann and family, Saanichton, BC and
stepbrother, Charles “Chuck” Crawford-Brown and family in Ontario.

Many thanks to all who visited and cared for Bob at KGH and in hospice, too many
to name, but you were all great. Bob thanks the volunteers who keep that hospice
garden so beautifully. It was wonderful to sit in.
Bob has chosen cremation, wearing his old souvenir dinosaur cap. He’ll be set
free at a favourite spot in Jasper National Park. He asks only that you all
remember to take time to rest, and care for yourselves as you care for others.

“God bless the butterflies.”

Arrangements entrusted to

Cypress Funeral & Cremation Services 250-766-4400

Condolences may be expressed to the family by phone or email through Cypress Funeral & Cremation Services: