Harold Craggs

Harold Craggs

He was born at Salt Lake City, Utah in October, 1922 and reared in Idaho Falls, Idaho with his sisters, Lavona and Betty, and by their parents, Harold and Anne Craggs. He played football and was a wrestler for the Idaho Falls HS Tigers. Upon graduation in 1940 he briefly attended the University of Utah. He married Mary Wood, also of Idaho Falls on January 5, 1941. The couple moved to Los Angeles, CA and their son, Jeff, was born after that year. When the US entered WWII Harold was working for McDonald Douglas Aircraft. In 1943 he was drafted into the Navy and served in the Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Cowpens, which was the first ship to arrive in Tokyo Bay after the Armistice was signed at the end of the war.
After Harold was honorably discharged in Seattle, WA in 1945 his family was larger by one as son number two, Michael, had been born on February 29, 1944. He got involved in the local mink raising industry and by 1947 he had his own farm and his third son, Paul, on Locust Road in Alderwood Manor. He was a director on the Edmonds School District Board and later President. He also served as president of Olympic Fur Breeders and as President of the National Board of Fur Farm Organizations and Ameramink, a national fur marketing organization headquartered in New York City. He taught himself to weld and he invented a number of machines and equipment that made fur farming easier and more efficient. He loved ribald humor. His jokes at fur meetings and social events were famous.
In 1954 his farm and family had outgrown the 2.5 acres on Locust Road. Harold needed to find a place that would accommodate a larger number of animals and keep his three sons busy and off the streets. He found just such a site a mile south of the Granite Falls city limits. The 50's were banner years for mink farming and Harold became a bonified success. He was a self-made man who loved hard work and challenges and who imparted that work ethic to his sons and numerous employees. During this period of his life he helped create Granite Falls Fire District 17 and served on the first Board of Commissioners. In later years he served on the Board of Everett General Hospital.
He was a conservative man in many ways, but generous to a fault to anyone who needed help. He was a life long supporter of Planned Parenthood. He practiced the Religion of Family; which was more important than any other thing in his life. He always yelled the loudest at high school athletic events. His energy was amazing, his enthusiasm larger than life and his smile infectious. He and Mary had been married for over 70 years at the time of his death, April 4, 2011. Near the end, he did not like the mental and physical restrictions that plagued him. He hated not being able to drive because of numerous small strokes and he did not enjoy being indoors and inactive. Harold made the conscious decision to not have the battery in his pacemaker replaced.
He leaves behind his sisters, Lavona Jones and Betty Nicholas (Tom); his sons, Jeff (Allison), Michael (Nancy) and Paul (Jamie Olson); four grandchildren, Robin Craggs (Garret Keith), Christopher Craggs (Heather), Caitlyn and Olivia Craggs; and four great-grandchildren, Miles and Maryevva Craggs, Owen and Anders Keith. The number of persons who could call him "Uncle Harold" over the years numbered more than 30.
His ashes will be spread around the place he loved so dearly, the family farm in Granite Falls.