William Sutherland Crane, 80

William Sutherland Crane passed very peacefully with his family surrounding him at the Hospice house on March 11, 2017. He was born on Feb. 16, 1937, to Charles and Frances Crane in Chicago, Ill. He attended and graduated from Bryn Mar grammar school and South Shore High School in Chicago. He received his Engineering Degree from Miami University in Coral Gables, Fla.

His first job took him to Santa Maria, Calif., to work for Convair He met and married his wife, Janet. They moved to Spokane, Wash., where he worked on the Atlas Missile Program. His next job took them to Melbourne, Fla., to work for Boeing. After that he worked for Pan Am at Patrick AFB, Fla., which maintained the Eastern Test Range for the Air Force. They had two children born in Florida. Sharon Vroegop, of Brisbane, Australia, and David Crane of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. After 5 years he moved the family back to Santa Maria, to work for ITT Federal Electric which maintained Western Test Range for the Air Force at Vandenberg AFB. While there they had their third child, Jonathan Crane also of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Bill was with ITT for 22 years, working on the shuttle program. While there, Bill received his Masters in Computer Science from UCSB Santa Barbara, Calif. When the shuttle program was finished he went to work for Kinko’s at the main office in Ventura, Calif., where he retired after 12 years.

In 2003 Bill and Janet moved to Coeur d’Alene to be near their sons, since their daughter, Sharon Vroegop, was in Brisbane, Australia, and they wanted to be close to at least two thirds of their family. They have two grandchildren in Brisbane: Shane and Sheridan Vroegop and four grandchildren in Coeur d’Alene: David, William, Corine and Ella Crane. They made numerous trips to Australia to see their first grandchildren and family.

Bill’s extended family consists of two nieces: Nancy and Rick Dunphy and son Christopher; Carol Taylor, Joline and Ross in North Carolina. Three nephews: Michael and Rhonda Jarvis their children Justin, Jake, Jessica and Jackie in Pennsylvania; Glenn and Victoria Jarvis and sons Christopher and Jacob in North Carolina; Scott and Heather Jarvis and sons Andrew and Nathan in Bakersfield, Calif.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Elizabeth, and brother-in-law Luther Taylor. His brother-in-law and sister-in-law Donald and Judi Jarvis

BILL’S FAVORITE THINGS: Reading, Classical Music, Radios, Watches, Airplanes, Trains, Ships, Traveling, Corned beef, Tapioca pudding, Tim Tams, Nicknames, Australia, Guns

The Lord knew that his work here on Earth was finished. A celebration of Bill’s life will be held at a later date. Please visit Bill’s memorial and sign his online guestbook at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.