Charles ‘Chuck’ Croasdill: Beloved and
caring teacher and father taught at Lakes, Clover Park, and Fort Steilacoom
It’s
been more than 55 years since Nora McNerthney John was a Lakes High School student.
She has never forgotten her favorite teacher at the school: Charles Croasdill.
He
taught her journalism classes and was adviser of the ‘Lakes Ledger’ student
newspaper of which she was co-editor.
“Mr.
Croasdill's dedication to teaching and his interest and respect for his
students was genuine,” said John, who lives in Marysville.
“He
gave me and other students opportunities to expand and test our self-confidence
and knowledge and was a mentor in a quiet way. He was the only teacher who I
felt cared about their students as people and wanted us to succeed. Mr. C’s
Journalism classes and his guidance for our ‘Ledger’ staff was a big bright
spot in my high school memory.”
Croasdill
came to the Clover Park School District in 1955, initially teaching at Clover
Park High and advising ‘Clover Leaves’, the school’s student newspaper.
In
1963, while continuing at Clover Park High, he added teaching at new - it
opened in 1962 - Lakes High and advised its student newspaper, the ‘Lakes
Ledger.’ During his time teaching at both schools, the two newspapers had one
combined Lakes/Clover Park issue a school year focusing on a single topic.
He
was adviser to Clover Park and Lakes chapters of Quill and Scroll, an
international high school journalism honor society.
After
23 years in the district he retired in 1978. But, he didn’t stop teaching.
“Dad’s
motivation in teaching was to prepare his students for the next phase in their
lives,” said his daughter, Helen Croasdill Montfort of Jacksonville, Florida.
“He genuinely loved teaching. He enjoyed working at both schools …”
Confirmed his daughter, Carolyn “Lyn” Croasdill Hill of Olympia.
“He loved his job as a teacher and always hoped to make an impact on his
students.”
“There was a time in
dad’s life as a teacher that few people know about,” said Helen. In the 1960s –
this was when he was teaching at both Lakes and Clover Park -- he and another
teacher taught night classes to the inmates at McNeil Island Penitentiary. After
school they would take the prison boat from Steilacoom to the island. He would
be home around 9 o’clock in the evening. Their teaching enabled the inmates to
graduate from high school or earn their GED.
Charles
Watson Croasdill IV and Ruth lived in Lakewood, where they raised their family.
He died at age 80 on May 12, 1997 in Lakewood. She died at age 92 in Edmonds on
April 21, 2016.
“Chuck”
– the name he preferred – was born in Seattle on Jan. 1, 1917. He graduated in
1935 from Seattle's Roosevelt High School where he competed in track &
field and cross-country. His student activities also included being an editor
of “The Roosevelt News" student newspaper.
He studied at the University of Washington in Seattle. Very athletic and
extremely competitive, while a UW student he completed and lettered in
cross-country and lettered, too, as a miler and half-miler for the track &
field UW Huskies. He was a UW track team captain. And, he played varsity
tennis, too.
The 1938 UW ‘Tyee’
yearbook, covering the 1937-1938 academic year when he was a junior, said his
3.9 grade point helped improve his Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house's member
grade average.
After graduating in
June 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree in education from the UW College of
Arts and Sciences, he taught in eastern Washington in Wallula near the
Washington-Oregon border, at Columbia Union High School. That ended when he joined
the U. S. Army during World War II.
The Army sent Private
Croasdill to Alaska's Aleutian Islands. He was trained as a radio operator with
the Alaska Communication System, said Helen. "There was a very small base
and because of the brutal weather, not much to do. The Army supplied the men
with cigarettes and playing cards.”
Playing
cards came in handy in the Croasdill Lakewood home. He held ‘legendary; monthly
poker games at which friends, including teaching colleagues, took part. But,
back to serving in the Army …
… Traveling
on a passenger train to home in Seattle on furlough from his Army duties in
Alaska, he met Ruth Evelyn Matheson, a Canadian (born in Winnipeg, Manitoba),
who was living in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In
November 1945 he was honorably discharged from the Army at Fort Lewis,
Washington.
Chuck and
Ruth married on April 12, 1946, in Seattle. In 1951 she became a U.S. citizen.
They moved to
Aberdeen (Grays Harbor Co.), Wash., where, over nine years, he worked first for
Grays Harbor College and later for Aberdeen (Weatherwax) High School.
The Croasdill children
– Helen, Carolyn (“Lyn”) and Charles (“Charlie”) -- were born in Aberdeen. They
all graduated from Lakes High, Helen in 1966, Lyn in 1968 and Charlie in 1970. None
of them had their father as a teacher.
At the college, his
duties included serving as an adviser of the ‘Timber Line’ student newspaper.
At the high school, he taught English and journalism and was adviser of the
‘Ocean Breeze’ student newspaper.
From Aberdeen, the
Croasdills moved to Lakewood in 1955 and to duties in the Clover Park School
District. They became Little Church on the Prairie members.
During three consecutive summers in the early 1960s, the
Croasdill family lived in Provo, Utah, while Chuck attended and taught journalism
classes at Brigham Young University. He was among a select number of high
school journalism teachers from across the nation awarded fellowships from The
Newspaper Fund, Inc., made possible by grants from the Wall Street Journal.
The fellowships were designed to "encourage more
talented young people to choose journalism as a career by assisting high school
newspaper advisers and journalism teachers, according to an Associated Press
story in May 1960.
Following his 1978
retirement from the Clover Park School District, he taught English for seven
years (1979-1986) at Fort Steilacoom Community College (now Pierce College)
After his second
retirement in 1986, he and his wife, Ruth, enjoyed traveling.
“They had a small
motor home. For the winter they would drive it from Lakewood to Florida where
my husband and I and our children lived,” said Helen. “They would park it in
our yard and spend time with us. My sons had lots of help with their English
homework!”
Chuck and Ruth’s travellust went beyond the United States.
“They weren't afraid to go anywhere. One time they took a three-month trip on a
freighter. They got off the ship at each port. The ship only took a small
number of passengers so this was a special adventure,” Helen said.
“My parents were very devoted to each other and both worked
very hard to provide for our family. I appreciated that we always sat at the
table together for dinner and talked about how our day went. My dad always had
something interesting to say,” said Lyn.
“Dad had a really great sense of humor and always provided
some laughs,” said Lyn. “We spent summers camping & visiting national parks
& I have always treasured those memories. My four children cherished them
both as grandparents.”
“Our father was an
active and involved sports fan," said Charlie of Tacoma. “He really
enjoyed playing golf and bowling, including with fellow teachers. He was also
an expert at solving crossword puzzles.”
His love of sports
manifested itself another way. At Clover Park he was public address “voice” for
boys’ basketball games and radio play-by-play “voice” for Clover Park football
games.
“Not only was he a
collegiate athlete in two sports, he continued his love of sport as an adult.
He was an avid spectator and participant. I have fond memories of him teaching
me and my sisters to play golf and tennis and there was the ever present
badminton "court" in the backyard. It was ‘lined’ just like grass
football fields. It was the site of many hotly contested games and great
memories.
‘He would watch any
sporting event on television and was always organizing betting pools with
friends. I remember as a young boy being fully engaged as he told me, “Charlie,
do not ever bet on a baseball game without knowing both pitchers". Sage
advice!
“I always thought it
was an adventure to get to accompany my dad when he would announce the football
or basketball games at Clover Park High School.
“The football games
were the best as we would have to traverse a scary wooden catwalk to the announcer’s
booth at the top of the old Thompson Field stadium. I would use binoculars and
be his ‘spotter’, while eating free hotdogs. He would have coffee and a cigarette
going. He was in his element calling the game into a big old microphone.
“It is perfect that
his birthday was January first. He would spend the day watching every football bowl
game on television, all day long. It was
always the best birthday gift ever, for our dad, the sports fan.”
At Chuck’s death in
1997, survivors included Ruth, his wife of 51 years; daughters Helen Montfort
(Ed), Carolyn “Lyn” Hill (Rick) and son Charles “Charlie” Croasdill (Kristine);
sister Kit Hall; brother Walter Croasdill; six grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.
Captions for four photos
and one graphic …
PHOTO (Sitting at desk with typewriter) – Chuck Croasdill
started as a teacher and student newspaper advisor at Clover Park High School
in 1955.
PHOTO (Standing/leaning over table with pencil in hand) –
Journalism teacher and student newspaper adviser Chuck Croasdill of Lakes High
School in the late 1960s.
PHOTO (With person with binoculars on far right) – He
enjoyed all sports. Chuck Croasdill was radio play-by-play “voice” at Clover
Park High School football games on Thompson Field in Lakewood.
PHOTO (Family, sepia) – In the back, Charlie and Chuck. Then
(l-r), Helen with Michael, Chuck and Ruth’s first grandson. Behind Michael is
Lyn. Ruth is in front of Chuck.
GRAPHIC (in red) – A Story about Chuck Croasdill.
.JPG)
