By Khalida Sarwari
A dedicated family man, decorated World War II veteran and strong, kind-hearted law enforcement officer: that was Donald Crawford in a nutshell. The longtime Los Gatos resident died on Dec. 3 at the age of 90.
Crawford died of natural causes at his home in Los Gatos, where he lived for nearly 50 years.
Michael Wyllie, a 60-year-old retired Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy who worked at the courthouse when Crawford was in charge of security there, said he last saw Crawford on his 90th birthday on Oct. 13. He was bedridden and half the size of the man he first met more than three decades ago, said Wyllie.
“Even in the late ’40s, early ’50s, I think Don stood at at least 6-foot-1,” said Wyllie. “Big 250-pound man. Big arms. He looked like the guy you didn’t want to mess with, but yet he was so kind and gentle.”
That was the physique of a man who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 17 at the height of the second world war. In September 1944, as part of the First Marine Corps Division, Crawford’s platoon invaded the island of Peleliu, one of the Palua Islands held by a garrison of more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific.
During the invasion, as a heavy machine gunner, Crawford’s amphibious tank became lodged on a shallow reef close to shore and was hit, leaving most of his platoon killed or injured in the explosion. Crawford found himself in the ocean, next to a fellow marine who appeared unconscious and injured, so he treaded water for four hours, keeping his comrade afloat while machine gun and mortar fire raged around them.
They were eventually rescued and taken to a naval vessel offshore, where Crawford discovered the marine he had tried to save had already been killed by the initial mortar blast. For his actions, Crawford was awarded the Purple Heart from the Marine Corps, and in 1945 he was honorably discharged.
Upon returning home to Washington, Crawford enrolled at Washington State University and obtained a degree in psychology with a minor in penology. That minor would come in handy in his near future when he moved to the South Bay and started working as a sheriff’s deputy in 1954. In 1963, Crawford met his wife, Diana Jean DeVries, while she was working as an interpreter for the hearing impaired at the Santa Clara County Superior Court, and three years later, they married and moved to Los Gatos to start a family. His son, Dawson, was born the following year, and daughter Dara was born in 1973.
Between 1974 to 1981, Crawford served as the sheriff department’s sergeant in charge of security at the Santa Clara County Superior Court where, according to Wyllie, he supervised about 80 deputies and sometimes more than 20 helpers to make the court system run.
“He was in a really big leadership role,” said Wyllie. “He had what they call bailiffs to deal with; a lot of these guys were WWII guys. He was dealing with all the new things and how to put them together, matching deputies with judges. So he was a matchmaker in a lot of ways, trying to make it all work.”
It was there that Crawford earned the nickname “Doc” among judges, attorneys and sheriff’s officers for peacefully subduing a large and aggressive psychiatric patient at the courthouse one day. Wyllie recalls a running gag Crawford had where he traveled with a doctor’s smock and stethoscope.
“He would always come up with something,” said Wyllie. “But, he was good at talking to people, and you don’t see that anymore. Back then in the ’60s and ’70s, people used to use their words a lot and they meant something.”
Crawford wasn’t just all talk; he was also a charitable man, Wyllie said. He recalled on many occasions when Crawford would take coffee and doughnuts to the homeless at St. James Park. On slow days, he’d send his own guys out for milkshakes. But, more than anything, he supported their goals and dreams, encouraging them to further their education or improve their skill sets, said Wyllie.
“He was really great with people, always got things worked out, always helped bring people up, gave you chances to learn but he didn’t put you in spots where you’d be overwhelmed,” Wyllie recalled. “He’d put you with the right guys to show you the ropes. You just felt he’d done everything, and if you had a problem he could solve it.”
After retiring in 1981, Crawford worked as a licensed private investigator in Los Gatos by day and was a doting father and grandfather by night.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Diana, children Dawson and Dara, daughter-in-law Rachel Crawford, son-in-law Albert Penello, and his four grandchildren Ryan, Connor, Grace and Lily.
In lieu of flowers, Crawford’s family requests donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Foundation. A service to celebrate his life will be held in Los Gatos in February.
Link: Purple Heart recipient, WWII veteran and county lawman Donald Crawford also had heart of gold
