Milton Leonard Cracraft was named Leonard Milton according to his father’s diary. He went by Leonard Milton until he received a copy of his birth certificate when he was drafted into WWII at 18. The birth certificate name was a surprise. He was born July 8, 1926, the second child to Benjamin Leonard Cracraft Jr. and Esther Marie Cabaret Cracraft, in Amarillo, Texas. He left this earthly life on July 31, 2023 at the age of 97 years and 23 days. He wanted to make it to 97 because his mother did. On his birthday, he said, “I finally made it to 70.” And he chuckled…
At age 15, Leonard’s family left Texas and went to Vancouver, WA to work in the ship yards during WWII. Child labor laws made Leonard lose his job, so he worked for a farmer milking cows by hand twice a day. When Leonard turned 18, between his junior and senior year in high school, he was drafted into WWII. He fought in the last battle of the war in Okinawa to capture the Shuri Line. One hundred eighty men went into that battle; he was one of 17 that walked out, and as he put it “without a scratch.” He was dreading invading mainland Japan. When the atomic bombs were dropped, the war ended, probably saving his life. Leonard was then assigned to Tokyo as part of the occupational forces. As Leonard’s memory slipped away, he continued to sing “You’re in the Army Now,” sometimes 10 times a day.
When Leonard was discharged from the military, he came to Eagleville, MO where his parents had moved while he was away at war. He came home to a place he had never been before. His cousin from Diagonal, Iowa introduced him to Bethel Wauneta Huber. One blind date turned into a 44-year marriage with six children and 15 grand-children.
Engineering would have been Leonard’s chosen career if he hadn’t fallen in love with farming. He developed a broad diversity of skills useful for farmers. When he started farming with his father in 1949, he built farm equipment to be used with the new B Farmall tractor that replaced horses. Over the years he worked in the shop overhauling neighbor’s tractors and re-engineering equipment. If he needed something, he built it, or bought something to modify. He designed and built an over-head crane system in his shop to enable him to work on major projects. Leonard used to poke fun at engineers including himself. He would say, “You can always tell an engineer, but you can’t tell them much.” And he chuckled…
In 1960 the family farm was hit by a tornado and destroyed the barn and other equipment. It wasn’t long before Leonard, his preacher at the time and some neighbors started building a new one. When everyone was done and left, he kept building. He put a grain elevator in it and built overhead grain bins. That poor old barn went through a lot of changes through the years, from a dairy barn to a feed grinding facility, to storage and shop until it burned down.
Working the land he loved was Leonard’s fun. He only began reading and watching Western TV shows when he became too old to work. He never owned a piece of land that he didn’t improve. He always said he wanted to leave the land better than when he found it, saying, “the first step to improving fertility is to stop erosion.” So he built ponds, terraces and put in drainage tiles. Over the years he saved tons of top soil on his land. He farmed more for the future generations than he did for himself.
Leonard and Neta moved to Arkansas in 1986 when farming wasn’t profitable. Leonard worked for the Army at Ft. Chaffee and the army needed a device to pull a convoy of jeeps and trucks along a path so the fighter jets could get experience shooting at a moving target. This project was called a JRTC Live Fire Convoy Mover. The army had never had anything like this before, they just knew it would help in their training. So just like Leonard did on the farm, he started going through all the surplus piles of junk and started putting together something that might work. He did a lot of trial and error and eventually came up with something that worked. It worked so well that the army wanted the blueprints so it could be duplicated at other army bases and he told them that there were no blueprints, that it was all in his head. For his work on this project the army recognized him with a certificate and a ceremony. When Ft. Chaffee closed they took it apart and moved it to another location.
While living in Arkansas, Neta and Leonard started walking daily for exercise. Leonard walked almost every day for 37 years. He only stopped walking on his treadmill when he became too weak about a month before he passed.
Leonard’s dad, Ben was a carpenter and helped Leonard learn how to construct buildings. He constructed many of the buildings on the farm including the home he lived in for the past 43 years. In retirement he enjoyed building furniture starting with a log. He gave furniture pieces to all his children and many grand-children.
Leonard and Neta had a large family of 6 children, in-laws and 15 grandchildren. When Neta died, Leonard married neighbor Alice Nadine Snethen Darnell and doubled the size of their family. He was a married man at heart, as he was married 75 years total. He grew to love each child, grandchild and great-grandchild equally for he had a great capacity for love.
Despite memory loss, Leonard maintained his wonderful sense of humor to the end, always cracking a joke. Leonard told pastor Bruce Williams that he doesn’t ever get upset about what the preacher says in church anymore – because he can’t hear what was said. And he chuckled…
Leonard was a builder of family and faith in God. He made sure his family was in church every Sunday – a value he learned from his mother. He first joined the Eagleville Christian Church when he was discharged from the army at 20 years old. All his life he served God with whatever was needed, from Sunday school superintendent, to teaching the young married class for many years, to helping build class rooms on the old church building, and setting a good example for all. He often said God was extremely good to him and that he had a wonderful life because God gave him the ability to do anything he wanted to do.
In the last years of his life he lost his hearing. He always wanted to go to Church on Sunday, even though he couldn’t hear what was said. But he loved to sing the familiar hymns. He couldn’t hear the organ or the audience, but he sang loud and clear. He sang and praised the Lord.
Psalm 18:49
“Therefore I will give thanks to you o Lord, among the Gentiles. And sing praises to your name.”
Leonard is now singing in the presence of God.
Leonard was preceded in death by his parents, Ben and Esther; his first wife, Neta; his siblings Grace Garrett, Lucille Charleston and John Cracraft; one brother-in-law Don Snethen, and two sons-in-law, Bill Vosburg and Tony Sturdevant.
Survivors include: his wife of 31 years, Nadine of the home, six children: Greg (Jeanne) Cracraft, Eagleville; Jim (Sheri) Cracraft, Lamoni, IA; Peggy Sturdevant, Ridgeway; Cecil (Kathy) Cracraft, Blythedale; Larry (Donna) Cracraft, Albany; and Richard Cracraft, Archie, MO; one sister, Mildred Parkhurst, Farmington, Utah; two sisters-in-law Marlene Cracraft, Port Royal, SC, and Becky Huber, Creston, IA; two brothers-in-law, Rich Vollbrecht and Dick (Cindy) Snethen; Six step-children: Terry (Craig) Miller, Streetsboro, OH; Pam Vosburg, Grinnell, IA; Ron (Susan) Darnell, Beaver Falls, PA; Rob (Cathy) Darnell, Overland Park, KS; Wes (Kathy) Darnell, Country Club, MO; Janie (Mark) Miller, Kailua, HI; 35 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren, and a host of cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws and step loved ones.
Funeral Services will be held at 4:00 p.m. Friday, August 4 at the Eagleville Community Christian Church, Eagleville, MO under the direction of Roberson Funeral Home, Eagleville, MO. Burial with Military Rites will follow in Masonic Cemetery, Eagleville, MO. The family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Eagleville Community Christian Church in care of Roberson Funeral Home, P.O. Box 46, Eagleville, MO 64442. Online condolences may be left at www.robersonfuneralhome.com
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