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K.L. Brown Memory Chapel - Anniston

620 Golden Springs Road

Anniston, Alabama

Samuel Crabtree Obituary

A Memorial Service for Samuel F. Crabtree M.D., 93, of Anniston, will be at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 12, 2012, at Grace Episcopal Church with the Rev. Lee Shafer officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in the King Parlor at the church. Dr. Crabtree passed away on November 9, 2012. Dr. Crabtree was born in Greensboro, on May 19, 1919. To pay for his college education, he sold magazines door-to-door with his classmate, George Wallace. He graduated from The University of Alabama in May, 1941, was a member and President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK). He was commissioned as 2nd Lt. U.S. Army, originally stationed at Wheeler Army Airfield, Honolulu, Hawaii. While waiting outside his barracks for a ride to the golf course on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Dr. Crabtree dove into a ditch for cover as the airfield became the first target of the Pearl Harbor Attack. He married his bride, Mary Matthews, in 1943. Other tours in the Pacific theater included Okinawa and Iwo Jima. After the war, he returned to Alabama for four years of medical school and was in the first graduating class of The University of Alabama, Birmingham, in 1950. Later that year he joined the U.S. Air Force as Flight Surgeon, completing an internship at Hickam AFB in Hawaii, and residency at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In 1957 he completed his service at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery and retired as a Lt. Col. He moved with his wife and family to her hometown of Anniston, where he joined the radiology practice of Levi, White and (Crabtree) which later became Anniston Radiology Group. He worked to procure grants through UAB for mammography studies for indigent women. Coinciding with his retirement in the mid '80s from Anniston Radiology and the Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center staff. Dr. Crabtree's career quest for area cancer patients was finally rewarded with the opening of the Oncology Department at NEARMC. His passion for medicine continued throughout his life as a retired physician through his love and support of the medical community, education and awareness programs and philanthropies. He especially loved being "on call" for his friends and family. He was a Fellow of the American College of Radiology, a founding member of the Alabama Academy of Radiology; Chief of Staff, Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center (Anniston Memorial Hospital); President, Calhoun County Medical Society; President, Eastern Radiological Society; President, Rotary Club; President, Anniston Country Club and a founder of The Donoho School, formerly Anniston Academy. Dr. Crabtree was an avid golfer, and at the age of 70, he shot his age. He raised champion pointers and setters and participated in and won field trials with his beloved dogs. He loved to hunt quail and dove with friends and family. As a 93 year old veteran of World War II and a Pearl Harbor survivor, "Big Sam" was known by his family, friends and professional colleagues as a fighter/competitor who overcame any and all adversities, including rabies as a child in the '20s and the many challenges he faced late in life, including cancer. As a humanitarian and optimist by nature, his gift of instilling hope in his cancer patients was legendary. Dr. Crabtree is preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Mary Matthews Crabtree and a brother, Virgil Forrest Crabtree. Dr. Crabtree is survived by a sister, Mary Crabtree Hare, of Monroeville; his four daughters, Margaret Crabtree Ritchie (Tommy), Susan Crabtree Burns (Avery), Mary Graves Crabtree and Maxine Crabtree Sikes (Jeff); grandchildren, Meeghan Callahan Sowinski, Suzy Burns Howerton, Samuel Crabtree Sikes and Christa Ferrell Sikes; great-grandchildren, Henry Sowinski, Evatt Howerton and Avery Howerton. The family wishes to especially thank Mrs. Dorothy Wilson for her many years of service and also Mrs. Clara Sales. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Medical Center Memorial Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 2208, Anniston, AL 36202. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.klbrownmemorychapel.com. K.L. Brown Memory Chapel 620 Golden Springs Road Anniston, AL 36207 (256) 231-2334

Published by The Anniston Star on Nov. 11, 2012.
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Memories and Condolences
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3 Entries

Honored to have known Dr. Crabtree and all his family. Glad I learned this news in order to offer everyone my sincerest condolences.

randy troup

October 29, 2013

Our family loved precious Uncle Sam. Although a long, good life ,we will miss him as you do. My love to all and with deep sympathy,
Debbie Crabtree Walker

November 11, 2012

So very sorry for your loss.
a friend

November 11, 2012

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