Bigelow "Big" Crocker Jr.

LUNENBURG -- Bigelow “Big” Crocker Jr., 85, of 24 Leominster Road, died in his home on Monday, Dec. 10.

He was born in Fitchburg on Nov. 21, 1922, the son of the late Bigelow and Barbara (Cushing) Crocker, and lived in Lunenburg for the past 58 years.

He attended local schools in Fitchburg and graduated from Belmont Hill School in 1942. After graduation, he joined the Army Air Corps and served in World War II, piloting a B-17 Bomber in 35 missions for the 388th bomb group. Following the war, he married Jeanne LaCroix of Chestnut Hill and went to work in the family paper business, Crocker Burbank. He spent 21 years with Crocker Burbank Co. and the Weyerhaeuser Co. in management and sales and also worked in the commercial printing business for 11 years.

Throughout his life, Big served in many civic and community capacities for local organizations and businesses, among them, the Fitchburg United Fund, Fitchburg Art Museum and the Fitchburg Historical Society, as well as the board of directors for the First Safety Fund National Bank. He inherited his family’s love of the land, and was a founding member of the North County Land Trust.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jeanne (LaCroix) Crocker of Lunenburg; five children, Susanne C. Richey and her husband, Charles C. Jr., of Hamilton, John Todd Crocker and his wife, Caroline L., of Concord, David Bigelow Crocker of Santa Fe, N.M., Martha Paine Crocker and her husband, Thomas S. Leonard, of Huntsville, Utah, and Lucy C. Abisalih and her husband, Thomas A., of Merrimac; nine grandchildren, Ashley and Dugan MacVaugh, Lee, John and Hope Crocker, Jeanne-Arli and Alysia Harrington Crocker, Claire and William Abisalih; two sisters, Rosemary C. Kemp of Meredith, N.H., and Carolyn C. Winslow of Manchester; and three sisters-in-law, Rosemary Darling, Susanne Phippen and Edith Dabney.

CROCKER -- A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 11 a.m. in the United Parish of Lunenburg on Main Street. There are no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Crocker Field Restoration Fund, C/O FHS Athletic Department, 140 Arn-How Farm Road, Fitchburg, MA 01420, or to the Fitchburg Historical Society, 50 Grove St., Fitchburg, MA 01420. The Lunenburg Chapel of the Sawyer-Miller-Masciarelli Funeral Homes, 763 Massachusetts Ave., is directing the funeral arrangements. See masciarellifamiylfuneralhomes.net for more information.