Dabney Scott Craddock

Mr. Dabney Scott "Dab" Craddock, Jr., 98, of Asheboro, NC, passed away at his home on Sunday, October 26, 2014, after a long and full life. A funeral service is scheduled for 11:00 am Thursday, October 30, 2014, at First United Methodist Church, Hamlet, NC, where he was a member for over 50 years, with Rev. Deborah Wilkins officiating. Masonic rites will follow. A native of Raleigh, NC, Mr. Craddock was born December 7, 1915. He was the son of the late Dabney Scott Craddock and Sally Clingman Swicegood Craddock. Dab graduated from Cary High School, where he was an athlete in all sports and was inducted into the Cary High School Hall of Fame. He fell in love with his high school sweetheart, Lucille, and married January 16, 1937. They raised four children together in Cary, NC until 1950, then moved to Hamlet, NC, where they were part of the community for over 56 years. They moved to an apartment at the Cross Road Retirement Community in Asheboro, NC in 2006. Dab, Jr. comes from a large railroad family. He was an engineman with the Seaboard Coast Line, like his father and brothers, for 43 continuous years until his retirement in 1980. He began as a fireman in 1937 and was promoted to locomotive engineer in August 1942. He was a past Master Mason at the Hamlet Lodge #532. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife of 75 years, Frances Craddock, who passed away in 2012, his daughter and first born, Barbara Lucille Wersal, and third child and son, Michael Wayne Craddock. Mr. Craddock is survived by his first son, Dabney Scott Craddock, III, and wife Marlene, of Steinwenden, Germany, youngest son, James Lee Craddock and wife, Melinda, of Asheboro, NC, sister, Jane Healy, of Wakefield, RI, cousin, Charles Robert Craddock, of Durham, NC, nine grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends at Ridge Funeral Home, 908 Albemarle Road, Asheboro, NC, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm Wednesday, October 29, 2014 and again following the service at the church. Memorials may be made to The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford, 600 College Street, Oxford, NC 27565. Tributes may be sent to the family at www.ridgefuneralhome.com.