Richard Crowers - '49 (AKA Dick Crowers) - Alumni Profile
Click Here to Fill Out Your Own Alumni Corner ProfileRichard Crowers - 1949
I pledged in 1941 from Slatington, Pa. - brought in by the feather merchant, Paul Handwerk of Slatington. I studied Industrial Engineering, went into the army in 1943, was with the 7th army in Germany (ran the SS and Gestapo compound in Heilbronn after the war) and came back to finish school. I'd picked up troubles in Germany and finally, after the hospital, graduated in 1949, I was originally class of '45. I was in the Blue Band, occasionally the symphony orchestra.
I was a Vice President of Booz, Alen & Hamilton and subsequently set up my own firm, Crowers & Company. I shut it down and couldn't sit around. Now I'm the Office Manager at the golf course a short distance from Social Circle, part of he Department of Natural Resources, State of Georgia. (We had previously lived in Atlanta) I'm so busy I don't get much time to play golf. I play in two bands, The Yaarab Temple Shrine Band in Atlanta (I'm not a Shriner) but they wanted me in and set up a special ruling. I also play in the Gwinnett Band, probably the best in the Atlanta area. (I'm a former member of the one and only Allentown Band).
I'm married to a coed, Edith Bane, from Connellsville. We've been married 53 years. Edith was an Education major and taught school. We have three children and 7 grandchildren. Our oldest, Eleanor, who graduated from Penn State, has two master's degrees, teaches in the English Dept. and is married to Dave Baker, Athletic Dept. You hear Dave on the basketball broadcasts. Our Grandson Brian has just started Penn State and our granddaughter is still in high school.
Our oldest boy, John, graduated from Georgia and got his Master's from Penn State. He's chairman of the Math Department at a huge high school in Cherokee County just north of Atlanta. He and Janet (who is a house supervisor at Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center in Atlanta) have three children, still in school here.
Our youngest, Richard, Jr is from the Naval Academy, class of '83. Rich has two Master's degrees, non from Penn State. He's a Commander and is currently the Surface Operations Officer for the fleets in European waters. They have two children and live outside London.
There are a lots of stories. Giff told me I had left my mark there. I was there with Fred Grun, his brother, Bill (after the war) Charlie Hellie, Charlie Zink, Nelson Miller (Sam, you made the pants too long) Bill Suter, Bob Thompson (Thompson Roses) Ev Catlin, Bill Dey, Larry McEvoy, Ted Hopkins, Bob Waltenbah, Duke Meyer, Danny Kreider, Al Heitner, Bob Harder, Cadmus Goss, Bill Brown, JacK Storer, Ed Noyes, Paul Handwerk, Ray Midgett, George Chapman, Frankie Pierce, Howard Alter had just graduated, Bill Renton, Dale and Squirrel (Donald Williams), and many others
The last night in 1943 when we realized we all had to go, some already dead and the rest of us thinking about being dead, we had some party. Finally some nut set a waste can on fire in the foyer and we all put our arms around one another and Frankie Pierce started to sing "I don't want to set the world on fire" .We swayed back and forth and sang. (Frankie was the world's worst singer even when sober. He howled so) I believe most of that group are dead now. I frequently play that number thinking of them. If I get called on for a sudden encore sometime, I decided I'd play that number for the audience. That's what I think of when I drive by the house.
Fraternally,
Dick Crowers