John L. Craig

John Craig of Osteen died Sept. 3 of heart failure. He was 88.

Some of his athletic skill may have come from his father, who played semi-pro baseball, and his mother, who was a competitive golfer. But some of his luck might have come from just the pure joy he got from the competition and camaraderie that came from sports.

Craig loved to compete, he loved to win, but most of all, he loved to play.

"He played for enjoyment," said Jeff Craig, his son. "He celebrated the companionship created through sport."

Jeff Craig played in the same slow-pitch softball league as his father when John Craig was pitching on teams with men half his age. Father and son faced each other several times.

"We loved to compete against one another, and we loved to win against one another," said Jeff Craig, 61, of Summerfield. "He had great control of his pitches. He had a knuckleball and a slow-ball curve."

Craig was proud of his achievements, particularly the hole in one on the fourth hole of the Kove Estates golf course following his surgery. He displayed his trophies on the shelves of a bookcase he built to create a small den on the back porch of his retirement community home.

But Craig was not a boastful man. He epitomized the meaning of sportsmanship, win or lose, his son said.

"My father was the best sport I ever witnessed. Long before people crossed the field to shake the other guy's hand, my dad was doing it," he said.

An Army veteran who participated in the Normandy invasion, Craig worked as a civil engineer for more than 25 years at Orlando military bases. He liked to invite the young servicemen over to his house for a swim in the pool, a home-cooked meal and a beer.

One of those young men, Ted Werkeiser, married his daughter, Christine. That was 42 years ago.

Craig was meticulous in his work as an engineer and in everything else he did. Even in old age, he would rather do it himself, and do it right.

Jeff Craig recalls visiting his father when John Craig was 85.

"He was up in a tree with a chain saw. I about had a heart attack. I said, 'Dad, I don't want to say anything harsh, but you got to get out of that tree with that chain saw.' He said, 'I've been doing this all my life,' '' Jeff Craig said.

Four months later, when Jeff came back, his father was on an extension ladder, painting his house.

"I couldn't get him down," Jeff Craig said. "Until the day my daddy died, he felt he could do anything you or I could do and do it with confidence."

Besides Jeff, John L. Craig is survived by his wife, Eileen Craig, of Osteen; son, Spencer Craig, of Orlando; daughter Christine Werkeiser, of Winter Park; sister Jean Maluke, of The Villages; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Cox-Parker Funeral Home, Winter Park, is handling arrangements.