Robert Gene Crabtree

Robert (Bob) Gene Crabtree passed away peacefully on October 11th, 2025 in his home in Joshua, TX. He was born in Boonville, AR on Sept. 3, 1929 and had just celebrated his 96th birthday at his home in Joshua, TX with a few family and friends.

Bob was born to a single mom Laura Lee when she was 17. They didn’t have much money, so he worked in the fields from a very young age and missed a lot of school but kept his grades up. He met Lovenia in high school when they were 16 and they decided to get married after their senior year but had to wait until after Sept. 3rd so that he would be 18. They married Oct. 12, 1947. They couldn’t afford to get a 4 year degree, so they took turns working odd jobs and putting each other thru Business College.

In Oct of 1951, Bob joined the Navy. They found him to be smart with numbers and sequences, so he worked listening to the lines that crossed the ocean to decode messages and became a computer programmer. He served in the Navy for 4 years and Reserves for 4 years. During his reserve time, he worked and went to college. They lived in Washington, DC when Debi, their first born came on the scene in 1956. Then they moved to Illinois in 1959, where Bonnie was born in 1960. In that same year, the base he was working at was closing, so he was hired to do computer programming with a company in Kansas City MO. This is where Becky was born in 1962.

Bob and Lovenia loved to host international exchange students and over the years had students from Germany, Thailand, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, France and Turkey, developing relationships with them and sharing their Christian lifestyle.

1972 brought some unexpected changes when the company that Bob worked for was shutting down. That is what brought the Crabtree family to Texas.

No matter where they lived, they always found a church family to be a part of.

Bob and Lovenia were always there to love and support their children and grandchildren as much as possible. He was a role model who taught his children the importance of honesty, integrity and hard work balanced with spending time with his family. He and Lovenia also took care of each of their parents as they advanced in years. Many vacations included doing handyman items for each of the parents’ homes. His family will cherish his memories of his warm smile and endless love and patience, never once raising his voice.

Bob was a loving and devoted husband and whatever Lovenia was a part of, he was there to support her. He would dig latrines and set up tents for Campfire summer camps, drive vans to pick up teenagers or older citizens who couldn’t get to church any other way, drive the van to take Lovenia’s Red Hat group to visit all parts of Texas. Bob was great at working with his hands around the house or on the cars to keep the family going. They were married for 69 years before Lovenia passed in 2017.

When Lovenia passed, he found a special companionship with Freda whom he and Lovenia knew from the Senior Center. They traveled together and enjoyed be involved at the senior center where they would play cards, bingo and dances. He was able to drive until about April of 2025 when his shoulder pain was just too much to bear. Freda then drove him and supported him until his passing.

Bob is survived by his 2 daughters, Debi (and her husband, Howard) and Becky (and her husband Rick), 7 Grandchildren, Melissa (and her husband Bobby), Trey (and his wife Jen), Kate, Jacob (and his wife Whitney), Kenzie (and his wife Kaylah), Nathan (and his wife Arika), and Quentin (and his wife Megan) and 11 Great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lovenia Crabtree and his daughter Bonnie Brim.