William Richard Cronkrite

William R. Cronkrite passed away from congestive heart and kidney failure on January 29, 2021 in Murray, Utah.  This non-traditional obituary is just a glimpse of his life story.  We hope that through this reading you will get to know who he was; an amazing man, husband, father, grandfather, and friend to many.  He will be referred to “Billy” as a child and Bill and William as an adult and Dad throughout this story so try not to get too confused!
Billy was born on May 5th, 1930 in Virginia, Minnesota to William Horatio and “Milly” Cronkrite.  As a little boy growing up on the “Da Iron Range” in Northern Minnesota, he would often accompany his father, who worked for the Standard Oil Company, to service the various stations on Da Range. When they would stop for a breakfast or lunch the waitress would ask little Billy what he would like to order.  Billy would respond “Minnows and Beer!”  Now “Minnows” in his response represented sardines.  You could always find several cans of sardines in Dad’s kitchen cabinets and pickled herring in his refrigerator.  The “Beer” at such an early age may certainly explain why our Dad enjoyed a “Happy Hour” each and every day.  The timing of Happy Hour could vary because “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!”
At age 12, Billy met the “love of his life” Dorothy Claus who lived in Eveleth Minnesota. His parents became great friends with her parents Alois (Louie) and Mary Claus. Billy and his brother Jim were sometimes mischievous to young Dorothy on the Claus farm.  When she asked to ride the hay rake, the two boys would drive the rake “cross grain” over the potato mounds causing her to fall off the rake!  Although he liked Dorothy, they never dated during high school.  They teased each other often because Dorothy’s high school (Eveleth) and Bill’s high school (Virginia) were rivals.
Eight years after his birth, Billy welcomed his sister Betty into his life.  He watched over his little sister.  When Billy was 14, their father passed away from complications due to cancer.  His mother Milly and little sister Betty had to move further north for work, leaving Billy to live on his own at age 15.
Billy lived alone in the family home for a year or so and then rented an upstairs bedroom.  He worked several jobs while he attended High School.  One of the jobs that he worked was for a floral shop, literally shoveling sh#*!  He and his buddy would have to go to one of the local farms and fill the florist truck-bed, that had wooden side panels, with fresh cow manure.  They usually “topped” the truck bed flat with the fresh manure at a height level with the top wooden panel.  When they returned to the floral shop their boss complained, “Look I pay for that manure by the truckload.  You need to get more manure in that truck!”   Billy was true to follow orders.  The next truckload he and his buddy piled that cow manure in the back of the truck creating a “mountain peak of manure” in the center.  Their boss dropped by to see if they were getting a full truck of manure and as he walked by a hefty chunk of fresh manure rolled down the mountain and landed on the top of his head!  His boss never complained again.
Bill was an athlete in High School.  He was on the track team, swim team, and captain of the football team.  Some of his fondest memories in High School were the canoe trips from the Boundary Waters in Minnesota up into Canada with his swim team and coach every summer.  These fun, but physically grueling canoe trips, kept the swim team in “tip top” shape.
 
After graduating from High School, Bill joined the U.S. Navy in 1948 and served on the USS Wantuck, a naval destroyer.  He served valiantly in the Korean War. The destroyer was modified to transport troops and equipment.  One of several missions the USS Wantuck was engaged in during the Korean War was a “lightning hit and run raid” in October 1950.  In the middle of the night, the USS Wantuck transported a small team of Marines to destroy bridges, tunnels, communication lines, and a railroad.  When the USS Wantuck returned after the mission, the Admiral commended the crew and stated that the success of this mission was critical.  He also stated that the Navy had rated this as more of an “expendable” mission with little expectation for a safe return of the crew.
At age 20, while still serving in the Navy, Bill and sister Betty lost their mother “Milly” to congestive heart failure. It’s hard to imagine losing both of your parents at such young ages.  Bill and Betty truly had to “grow up fast.”
It was during his time in the Navy, that Bill and Dorothy “fell in love” while writing letters to each other.  He was honorably discharged from the Navy in July, 1952 and by December 1952 the two “pen pals” were wed at St. Patrick’s Church in Eveleth, Minnesota. Bill had told Dorothy that even though he was attending college for Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth, “he looked over his finances and felt he could afford a wife.” They were wed on December 27, 1952 during the college school break.
They immediately started pumping out children after the marriage.  William Alan, sadly losing twins Peter and Paul, sadly losing son Jonathon, Karen, and Laurie were all born while Bill was finishing his Engineering Degree at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.  The family was growing so fast, Bill’s uncle, Rawley, gave them their first television set hoping this would create a distraction that would slow down the reproduction process so Bill could finish school!
In Minneapolis, Bill attended college in the morning while Dorothy stayed home with the three children. She packed him two lunches because after morning classes he would then work two part-time jobs until the late evening.  Bill would return to the apartment while Dorothy hustled off to work the night shift as the head nurse in the Psychiatry Ward at a local hospital.  Bill obtained his bachelor degree in 1956 and the family moved back up north to Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota.  They continued to grow the family adding Mary, twins Ann and Stephanie, and Jimbo to follow.
Bill worked for Erie Mining Company from 1957 until 1963.  After seeing the world in the Navy, he knew there were several other opportunities out there in this vast world. He accepted a job offer as a tooling engineer for Hercules Incorporated in 1963.  The family uprooted and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.  It was difficult leaving Minnesota however summer vacations were usually spent back at the Claus Homestead in Eveleth.
Bill was renown in the Aerospace Industry for his excellence in stress analysis work.  He was a member of the Pershing II Rocket Motor Team.  In 1982, he designed and completed all of the thermal and stress analysis for the first full size mandrel section for the Space Shuttle filament-wound cases (FWC).  The 12’ diameter mandrel was used to wind graphite fiber creating case segments for the filament wound solid rocket motor for the initial Space Shuttle flight in 1985. Bill had a brilliant mind and enjoyed his passion in stress analysis.  He spent several hours of his day mentoring and educating other engineers in this area of expertise.  He truly loved working for Hercules Inc. for 28 years.  He retired from the company in 1991.  Despite this brilliant, noteworthy expertise in the Aerospace Engineering field, Bill remained humble about his accomplishments.
Bill was a wonderful father and grandfather.  Although he truly believed in a “full day of work for a full day of pay” for his career, he always found time to enjoy his children and grandchildren.  He developed “seasoned” popcorn well before it became a shelf item in your grocery stores.  He would pop the kernels in a covered pan of oil.  He added butter to the popcorn and then experimented with seasoning.  He tried garlic salt, paprika, parmesan, shredded cheese to name a few.  Each week was a new popcorn seasoning adventure.
Dad had a great sense of humor.  One example of this quick wit occurred when his youngest son Jimbo was getting ready to go out on a Friday night and “party” with his friends.  This was common practice for him during Jimbo’s early years of college.  Jimbo’s friend, Greg, was running a little late in picking him up that evening.  He noticed his parents sitting on the back patio having a cocktail and enjoying the sunset together.  After joining them on the patio, Dorothy asked, “What? You aren’t going out on a Friday night?”  Jimbo wittingly replied “No.  I thought I would take this opportunity to spend some quality time with my parents and discuss current events.  What do you two think about over-population?”  Without any hesitation, Dad replied “I think we had one too many!”
One of Bill’s past times was pitching horseshoes.  He learned from the best, namely Clive Wahlin.  Clive was a 17-time Utah State Horseshoe Champion.  Bill excelled at this unique sport also becoming a Class A Tournament champion.  Although he enjoyed the sport, his true love of the game was creating long-lasting friendships along the way.
After retirement from Hercules, Dorothy and Bill travelled the U.S. with their two dogs, Bootsie and Pepper, in a travel trailer.  They visited each of the fifty states at least twice.  No, they didn’t pull the travel trailer to Alaska or Hawaii but they did visit those two beautiful states too.  They also would “snowbird” in Washington, Utah every winter at a retirement community called Winter Haven.  Every day at 3:00 pm they enjoyed “shushes” (nickname for a light cocktail) with their wonderful, long-time friends Bud and “Sis”.
Other hobbies included fishing, especially for Largemouth Bass and Stripers at Lake Powell, with his buddies. Bill and Dorothy would explore lakes and streams in a canoe. Bill golfed with good friends Bud and Uncle Carl in St. George.  He also enjoyed going to the Eureka in Mesquite, Nevada for Sunday mass.  No, this wasn’t a Catholic church.  It was a casino and Dad loved to play two sessions of Bingo there every Sunday.  He called it going to “mass” to make a donation.
Bill and Dorothy would often dance to traditional “Polka” music.  They took dance lessons together and learned various other dances, swing, tango to name a few.  They would energize the dance floor with all of their fancy moves. If you happened to be on the dance floor at the same time “Look Out!” They would fly around the floor at incredible speed with impeccable team precision!
Dorothy and Bill were married 62 years before she passed in 2014.  This was a difficult time for Bill.  He had known Dorothy for 72 years and this loss was devastating.  He decided to permanently move down to Winter Haven in Washington, Utah where he again had the daily “shushes” with “Sis” and made new friends along the way.  The family is grateful for all of the kind support and friendships developed all of those years at Winter Haven.  Happy hour was a daily occurrence at Bill’s home.
 
As Bill started to slow down a bit more, he would drink the protein drink called “Boost” each day. During Happy Hour, instead of having to get up each time to refresh his glass of Whiskey, he filled up the empty Boost bottle with Whiskey so it was close at hand.  He called this a “Super Boost!”  It also became appropriately known as a “Booster Shot!”
Bill’s children kept in touch calling several times during the week.  He would talk over an hour at times to them until his phone battery needed a “re-charge”.  This would typically end the conversation at which time Bill was known to say “Well I think we have solved all of the world’s problems!”
Billy, William, Bill and Dad Cronkrite taught us all honesty and integrity and respect for others. He said there is “something you can learn from everyone!”.  He always made good friends along the way and was always helping those in need. He will be greatly missed by all those who were blessed to have known him.  A higher “Happy Hour” is now in session.
He is survived by his son William Cronkrite (Susan), daughters Karen Gore (Paul Smith), Mary Triplett (Jim), and Ann Huss (Dennis) and son Jim Cronkrite.  He is also survived by eighteen grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Dorothy, sons Peter and Paul, son Jonathon, daughter Laurie, daughter Stephanie and granddaughter Nicole.
There will be no services during this pandemic but the family hopes to have a small memorial service on the Claus homestead in Eveleth, Minnesota later this summer.  Special thanks to all the nieces, nephews, grandchildren, relatives and friends who called Dad frequently during these last two months.  Special thanks and gratitude for the outstanding care provided by the IHC Hospice Team in Salt Lake City.  Especially Dad’s outstanding nurse, Meghan.  We are truly grateful for the great care given to our Dad during these final “Happy Hours” on earth.