A Friend to Many Honored with Memorial
The Barnesville community recently honored Shamrock fan and former park director, William “Billy” Crawford, with a memorial placed at Memorial Park.
Joel Braido from Braido Memorials, park director, Richie Wells, and his crew installed the monument about a month ago. Wells plans to landscape around the memorial in the future.
The memorial is near the old scoreboard at the baseball fields.
Crawford’s parents, Bethesda residents, William and Nada Crawford, celebrated his birth on Dec. 7, 1936. He became a member of the Barnesville First Presbyterian Church, was the secretary and past president of Barnesville Kiwanis Club and was a Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Committee member. Crawford’s family described him as a “diehard Shamrock fan,” and part of the McDonald’s coffee club”
Crawford devoted his life to his job as the park director for 30 years, serving the children of Barnesville, youth sports programs and the community.
After Crawford, an avid bowler, died on July 24, 2023, Chestnut Lanes owner, AJ Corder, launched a fundraiser at the bowling alley to honor his memory with a memorial in the park. Corder talked to his bowling leagues about the impact Crawford had on the community. Corder designed a ball cap for donations, and said every dollar would go toward creating a lasting tribute in the park.
Corder was befriended by Crawford at a young age and described him as a great person. “He became friends with almost everybody in town,” Corder said. “My dad passed away when I was 24, and Billy became like a second dad to me, and not only me, but there’s a lot of people who claim the same thing, that Billy was a dad to them, too.”
Corder thanked everyone who has donated to the memorial: all of the people at Chestnut Lanes, the staff at the park, Braido and the village of Barnesville.
“He’s done so much for me and the community,” Corder said. “We’re just trying to give a fraction back to what he meant to all of us. He was important to a lot of people down here.”
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