Victor Crawford
TRAVERSE CITY - Victor L. Crawford, age 94 passed away on Nov. 8, 2014 in Traverse City. He was born Jan. 28, 1920 in Hillsdale, Michigan to Vella and Charles Crawford. He grew up in nearby White Pigeon, Michigan.
At an early age Vic became interested in amateur ("ham") radio, obtaining his first FCC license when he was fifteen. Vic followed this interest in radio, obtaining several commercial FCC radio licenses. In 1938 he joined American Airlines and handled airline radio traffic. During World War II, Vic was an air-to-ground operator on cargo planes managed by the U.S. military.
Vic married Kathryn Marie Stock on July 30, 1946
Vic learned to fly on his own and became a pilot for American Airlines. He later joined Arabian American Oil Company ("Aramco") in 1948, initially flying between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. In 1960 Vic moved his family to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Vic was instrumental in the development of the Aramco aviation department, eventually managing 22 pilots. Besides flying workers and equipment to oil camps, Vic flew Saudi oil ministers and Aramco executives to OPEC meetings around the world.
Vic continued his interest in ham radio throughout his life. He was the first non-Arab granted an amateur radio license in Saudi Arabia and was well known around the radio world as "HZ3TYQ." He achieved notoriety for five expeditions to operate amateur radio stations from the Saudi-Iraqi and Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zones between 1963 and 1967; these enabled hams worldwide to contact these "rare countries." Vic received many honors in amateur radio, most notably achieving first place on the DXCC Honor Roll, a long-running competition of the American Radio Relay League.
Upon his retirement from Aramco, Vic and Kathy settled at Torch Lake in Michigan enjoying ham radio and sailing.
He is survived by two sons, James V. Crawford of Tucson, Arizona and Thomas R. Crawford of Bellevue, Washington. He was preceded in death by Kathy, his wife of 53 years and his son Richard A. Crawford of Washington, D.C.
A memorial service will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 at the Sacred Heart Church, 143 Charles St., Elk Rapids.
Arrangements have been handled by the Bellaire Chapel of Mortensen Funeral Homes. Services will be Sat 29 Nov 2:00 PM at Allison Funeral Home, 1101 N Travis,
Liberty, Texas.