Coleman Crocker Posted: Monday, July 5, 2010 2:47 pm
The Messenger, July 5, 2010
Coleman Walter Crocker, 75, of Maury City, formerly of Union City, died 10:15 a.m. July 3, 2010, at his home.
Services were set for 10 a.m. today in the chapel of Edmaiston-Mosley Funeral Home. Richard McCaskill and Keith Parker were to officiate. Burial was to follow in Fremont Cemetery near Union City.
He was born Aug. 27, 1934, in Obion County, son of the late Alva Floyd and Ollie Laurice (Morrow) Crocker. He married the former Geraldine Pipkin June 16, 1956. She survives.
He attended Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Harding University in Arkansas and the University of Memphis and held a doctorate in education. He was a Bible professor at Freed-Hardeman University for 14 years and taught in the Tennessee prison system for 20 years. Crocker was a Church of Christ minister who had served in Kentucky and Tennessee and was minister of Rives Church of Christ until his health failed in March. He was also very active in missionary work.
He is also survived by three daughters, Ruth Insell of Alamo, Beth Crocker of Henderson and Lorie McCaskill of Milan; his sister, Wilma Ray of Troy; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
He was also preceded in death by his sister, Lucy Tuttle.
To view the DVD that is an online tribute, or to leave messages of condolence for the family, visit the funeral home website at www.emfuneralhome.com. | 
Bro. Crocker was my mentor and great friend. I grew up in churches of Christ, but until I met Bro. Crocker, I was never active. (Attending nine schools in 12 years did not help me!) Bro. Crocker moved into our neighborhood, just down the street from where we lived. The first Sunday as our new preacher, he grabbed on to me and said, “Bro. Steve, please come over to our house and visit with us as soon as you can.” That was the beginning of a great friendship. I was soon involved in helping teach a Bible class, presiding at the Lord’s table and going to visit different people with Bro. Crocker. He also encouraged me to preach my first sermon on a Wednesday night, which I did, even though I was very nervous. Then one day, he had to go somewhere for a meeting and was going to be gone the next Sunday. He asked me, “Bro. Steve, would you take my place next Sunday and preach?” Oh, my! I finally said, “OK”, preached my first sermon and for some reason, a young lady came forward and she became the first person I ever baptized that day. The next summer, he invited me to go with his family to Montreal, Canada for a campaign and ride in the back seat with “Ruthie” (Ruth), Beth and Lorie (his wife, “Geri” was in the front seat). The next summer, he handed my a good-sized handful of money and said, “Bro. Steve, take this $$$ and go to Montreal and spend the summer working with the church there.” I did and enjoyed the work there so much, all because of Bro. Crocker. When I got back, he said, “You should go to Freed-Hardeman and just tell them you want to be a preacher. They will take care of you.” And I did and they did. What a wonderful, sincere, Christian man Coleman Crocker was! I’m so sorry I didn’t know that he had died until about two months afterward. (We had moved to Texas and it had been months since I had been able to talk to him.) I hope to see him in the next life and tell him how thankful I was for all that he did for me!