Stanley Russell Crapo

November 11, 1919 ~ December 8, 2019

Stanley Russell Crapo was born November 11, 1919 at the family home near Lockerby in San Juan County, UT; the second son of Clarence Ezra (Ez) and Lola Morris Crapo. 

Stanley’s mother died when he was four days old, and he was taken to live with his aunt and uncle, Harriet (Hat) and George Snyder. Even after Ez remarried, Stanley spent a lot of time with the Snyder family.

Stanley learned to work at a young age, helping with the family’s sheep, cattle, and horses. He chopped firewood for the cook and heating stoves and hauled water for the home with a wagon and team of horses. He went to school in a one-room country school, walking or riding a horse to get there.

Ez and his brother, Clarence, partnered to run a large sheep outfit. They summered the sheep on the mountain and wintered them around Dove Creek or in Summit and Bishop Canyons near Egnar, trailing them back and forth. They shipped their lambs in the fall from the train station south of Rico.

In 1941, Stanley married a neighbor girl, Callie Burke. They had met a community dance. Their first home was a log cabin Stanley’s grandparents had built west of Dove Creek. They lived there in the winter and in a sheep wagon on the mountain with the sheep in the summer. 

Stanley built the family a one-room house. He knew nothing about carpentry, so he ordered a how-to book from Montgomery Ward. Later, when they had acquired some land, he built a larger house. 

He and Callie were still living in the same house, within sight of where Stanley was born, until old age forced them to move to assisted living.

The sheep outfit was sold in 1949. Stanley worked at many jobs to support the family. 

He farmed and ran cattle, worked for the ASCS office, was roustabout on a drilling crew, worked at the uranium mill in Monticello, and was elected as the Dolores County Assessor for three terms. After he “retired,” he continued to drive tractor and wheat truck for a neighbor.

Stanley was fond of his animals. He was always certain they had plenty of food, water, and shelter. He knew each one as an individual. 

When you asked how he could tell 40 head of black cows that were all related apart, he would reply, “You can tell 40 related people apart, can’t you?” 

If the count was one short, he would study on it for a while and then tell you which one was missing. “You know that one who had the droopy-eared calf two years ago?” 

And then he would go out and look until he found that cow that had had the droopy-eared calf two years ago.

Stanley understood what a blessing electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, gasoline/diesel motors, and graveled roads were. 

He never became fond of television and ignored computers entirely. He said you could not believe a thing said on either one. 

Not long after the 2016 election, he quit listening to the news, claiming everyone in Washington, D.C. had gone insane, and he didn’t want to hear about it.

Stanley liked to hunt, mainly because his favorite food was venison. In later years, when he had more free time, he liked to paint pictures and latch hook rugs. His family was his world.

Stanley died December 8 at the age of 100 years and 27 days. He is preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Tammy; a grandson, Carl Cressler; his brother, Clarence; and two half-brothers, Hayes and Lloyd.

He is survived by his wife of 78 years, Callie; his two daughters, Connie Faucette and Linda Cressler; his grandchildren, James Faucette, Michele Taylor, Laurie Scholzen, Traci Brann, Evan Faucette, Clinton Cressler, and Christy Cressler; and 23 great-grandchildren.