Neal Craig

1936 - 2021

Neal Craig

January 22, 1936 - March 1, 2021

Neal Craig was born, and spent his first 10 years, in Corvallis, Oregon. He and his family, father Neal Eugene Craig Senior, mother Ruth, and sisters Patty, Cathy and Sue, moved to Albany in 1946, where they purchased the Snow Peak Dairy. As a teen, Neal worked in the dairy, cleaning the bottling areas and delivering milk.

Neal graduated from Albany Union High School in 1954, where he lettered in wrestling and competed at the state level that year. He attended Willamette University for one semester but soon joined the U.S. Navy in January of 1955. After basic training in San Diego, he was stationed in Alameda, California, and married Patricia Parrett from Albany in 1956. He served aboard the troop transport, USS Breckinridge, where he was assigned to assist the ship's dentist, a career he himself would eventually pursue.

In 1959, when his service was complete, they moved to Redding, California, where their son, Chris, was born. Neal attended Shasta College, before transferring to Oregon State University for the 1960 school year and was accepted into dental school in the fall of 1961. Neal graduated in 1965, and the family moved back to Albany where he bought Monroe Cooley's dental practice. Neal and Patricia divorced shortly thereafter.

Living in Albany, Neal loved to golf, and was a longtime member of Spring Hill Country Club. He also enjoyed fishing, hunting, water and snow skiing, scuba diving and piloting his own plane.

He met Charlene Hecht in 1984, and they were married on July 19th, 1991. Along with her children, Lee, Tami and Amealia, they continued to live in Albany until his retirement in 1996 when the couple bought a home at Sea Mountain, and later Kona, Hawaii. Neal and Charlie led an idyllic life there, golfing in weekly scrambles with their friends, snorkeling, enjoying the beach and pool, and attending Pu-Pu parties. In 2008, Neal suffered a stroke that, as doctors told Charlie, would assuredly mean he would never walk again. But Neal fought hard through physical therapy and was golfing again the next year. They stayed in Hawaii until 2013, when moving to Goodyear, Arizona, closer to top medical facilities in the Phoenix area, made sense. In 2015 they returned to Albany to be close to family and friends.

Neal will be fondly remembered as a loving husband and father, papa and grandpa by his wife, Charlene, and children, Chris, Lee, Tami and Amealia, and his 11 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Synapse Fitness Foundation. This organization provided the Rock Steady boxing classes that he participated in the last two years as treatment for his Parkinson's disease.

https://synapsefitness.org/donate/