Charles Crow
d. December 25, 2019
Charles Crow
Charles T. "Charlie" Crow, whose passions led him through careers in public service, the military, business and the arts on two continents, died December 25, 2019 at Little Rock at the age of 79. Charles Thomas Crow was born Nov. 5, 1940, at Columbia, MO, to Wendell H. and Elizabeth F. Crow, who would become publishers and editors of the Clay County Democrat, a weekly newspaper at Rector, where Charlie was reared and went to school. After graduating from Rector High School, Charlie attended Arkansas State College in Jonesboro. After graduation, he married a fellow student, Anne Horn, with whom he had two daughters. He appreciated the brotherhood of Lambda Chi Alpha during his life. He graduated from the Infantry Officers School in Fort Benning, Ga., the Counterintelligence Officers School in Fort Holabird, MD, and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, as a German language specialist.
His education took him out of state, to study and then to jobs in Texas, but he returned to Arkansas in 1972 to join the cabinet of Governor Dale Bumpers, where he served as director of the new Department of Planning. Historians and political scientists judged the period to be the most productive and innovative in the state's history. He would leave Arkansas again for entrepreneurial work in Alabama and Tennessee, returning to Little Rock with his wife, Anne, to retire in 2005. He and Bumpers, who had retired from the U.S. Senate, were reunited in a weekly lunch group until Bumpers' death in 2016.
He spent four years as a counterintelligence officer, including three years in West Germany. After his Army stint, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He was on the staff of Texas Gov. John Connally and helped establish the division of planning coordination. He left for Corpus Christi, Texas, to be executive director of the Council Bend Council of Governments. After leaving government service, he worked for Stephens Inc. In 1986, he became president of Harbert-Triga Resource Recovery, a joint venture between the Harbert Corporation of Birmingham, Ala., and SITA, S.A., of Paris. Four years later, he became president of National Recovery Technologies of Nashville, TN. Later, he became president of MSS International, also in Nashville, selling industrial waste-sorting sensor technology worldwide. Charlie left the waste-technology field to become an independent management executive for nonprofits. His assignments included executive director of Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, development officer for the Nashville Opera Association, formation of the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and later, in Little Rock, the Master Leadership Program for LifeQuest.
Charlie sang with several groups, including the Arkansas Chamber Singers and his church choirs. He wrote songs, taught songwriters, and sang at performances of the Central Arkansas Chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, which he organized in Little Rock. He collaborated with his friends, Charley Sandage and David Eschelman, to write and stage a musical about a freed slave and inn owner and her daughter set around the Brooks-Baxter War in Little Rock during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.
Charlie was a ruling elder at Westminster Presbyterian in Nashville, TN and at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, sang in the Second Presbyterian choir, served as chairman of the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation and was a proud lifelong Democrat. He was a member of a local book club for over forty-five years, even when out of state.
He is survived by his wife, Anne; daughters, Elizabeth Gardner Crow Mowery (Joe) and Suzanne Johnston Crow; a brother, Wendell C. Crow (Jane Anderson) of Anaheim, CA; a sister, Cathy Crow Henderson (Scott) of Greers Ferry; brother-in-law, Van Horn (Dora) of Santa Fe, NM; grandchildren Sarah and Kathleen Mowery, Nina and Wendell Moske; and caring nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Mark Eugene Crow; and Kenneth Knoble, his stepfather.
A memorial service will be held at Second Presbyterian Church on January 20 at 11 o'clock with a reception following at the church. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in his memory to Second Presbyterian Church, Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Second Presbyterian Church Adult Choir Music Fund.
Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, (501)224-2200. Charlie's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.
600 Pleasant Valley Drive
Little Rock, AR, 72227
His education took him out of state, to study and then to jobs in Texas, but he returned to Arkansas in 1972 to join the cabinet of Governor Dale Bumpers, where he served as director of the new Department of Planning. Historians and political scientists judged the period to be the most productive and innovative in the state's history. He would leave Arkansas again for entrepreneurial work in Alabama and Tennessee, returning to Little Rock with his wife, Anne, to retire in 2005. He and Bumpers, who had retired from the U.S. Senate, were reunited in a weekly lunch group until Bumpers' death in 2016.
He spent four years as a counterintelligence officer, including three years in West Germany. After his Army stint, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He was on the staff of Texas Gov. John Connally and helped establish the division of planning coordination. He left for Corpus Christi, Texas, to be executive director of the Council Bend Council of Governments. After leaving government service, he worked for Stephens Inc. In 1986, he became president of Harbert-Triga Resource Recovery, a joint venture between the Harbert Corporation of Birmingham, Ala., and SITA, S.A., of Paris. Four years later, he became president of National Recovery Technologies of Nashville, TN. Later, he became president of MSS International, also in Nashville, selling industrial waste-sorting sensor technology worldwide. Charlie left the waste-technology field to become an independent management executive for nonprofits. His assignments included executive director of Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, development officer for the Nashville Opera Association, formation of the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and later, in Little Rock, the Master Leadership Program for LifeQuest.
Charlie sang with several groups, including the Arkansas Chamber Singers and his church choirs. He wrote songs, taught songwriters, and sang at performances of the Central Arkansas Chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, which he organized in Little Rock. He collaborated with his friends, Charley Sandage and David Eschelman, to write and stage a musical about a freed slave and inn owner and her daughter set around the Brooks-Baxter War in Little Rock during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.
Charlie was a ruling elder at Westminster Presbyterian in Nashville, TN and at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, sang in the Second Presbyterian choir, served as chairman of the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation and was a proud lifelong Democrat. He was a member of a local book club for over forty-five years, even when out of state.
He is survived by his wife, Anne; daughters, Elizabeth Gardner Crow Mowery (Joe) and Suzanne Johnston Crow; a brother, Wendell C. Crow (Jane Anderson) of Anaheim, CA; a sister, Cathy Crow Henderson (Scott) of Greers Ferry; brother-in-law, Van Horn (Dora) of Santa Fe, NM; grandchildren Sarah and Kathleen Mowery, Nina and Wendell Moske; and caring nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Mark Eugene Crow; and Kenneth Knoble, his stepfather.
A memorial service will be held at Second Presbyterian Church on January 20 at 11 o'clock with a reception following at the church. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in his memory to Second Presbyterian Church, Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Second Presbyterian Church Adult Choir Music Fund.
Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, (501)224-2200. Charlie's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.
Service
JAN 20. 11:00 AM (CST)
Second Presbyterian Church600 Pleasant Valley Drive
Little Rock, AR, 72227
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