Bill Crowe

(From Clark Funeral Home)

William H. (Bill) Crowe Jr. reposed in the Lord on August 19th, 2025. Bill was born in Pittsburg Kansas to William H. Crowe Sr. and Josephine Marrello Crowe on August 31, 1933. The family soon moved to Neosho, Missouri, where Bill's father worked at the Kansas City Southern railroad depot.

Bill Jr. attended school at Benton Elementary. Like many Ozark boys, he and his neighborhood friends had many adventures in the woods, creeks and caves around Neosho. During World War II, Bill sold newspapers to soldiers at Camp Crowder. He was a Boy Scout and often spoke about a trip that his troop made to Colorado -- a long and exciting journey in those days.

In high school, Bill excelled at sports and was a four-year, four-sport letterman. He played football, basketball, tennis and competed in pole vault. In later years he was also a swimming instructor and lifeguard. Bill was a lifelong athlete who continued to play basketball and tennis in his senior years and was often at the golf course and lifting weights well into his eighties.

After graduation -- and knowing that his draft number was coming up -- Bill enlisted in the U.S. Army. After basic training he was sent to Ft. Bliss, near El Paso, Texas and trained in anti-aircraft artillery. Later he was stationed at Ft. Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York in an anti-aircraft headquarters battery, where he helped set up Nike missile bases around New York City and worked in supply. He also competed in track and field and marksmanship while in the service.

After leaving the Army, Bill eventually ended up at Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. He met his future wife, Margarette (Medge) McNeely, from Granby, Missouri, while carpooling home for the holidays with fellow students who lived around Neosho. The two were married on June 3, 1961.

Bill and Medge's first child, Willie, was born approximately a year later. The family soon moved to Palmyra, Missouri where Bill taught school and coached football. After a couple of years, the family relocated to Centralia, Missouri when Bill was offered a head coaching job there. In September 1964, Medge gave birth to their second child, Michelle. Being an active man, he loved playing with his children, often in a rough and tumble, though gentle way with plenty of giggles. The family had limited means, but he managed to do his part to make the holidays happy, take everyone out for dinner and a movie from time to time and make occasional day trips to interesting places.

In the summer of 1970, the family moved to Neosho, where Bill took a job coaching football as well as serving as elementary librarian. Bill rotated throughout the week to each of the five elementary schools and was well-liked by students. For many years, former students who remembered him would warmly greet him while he and the family were out and about town.

We would be remiss if we were to forget to mention the Crowe family’s long-standing friendship with their neighbors Jim and Sue Story and children Kris and Tim and the many cookouts, camping and canoe trips the families enjoyed together.

Along about 1974, the City of Neosho offered Bill the position of Parks and Recreation Director. He flourished in this vocation, working tirelessly to secure grants for many varied community programs and re-configured existing programs for maximum participation. Under Bill's tutelage the baseball and softball programs became more equitable and gave all children the opportunity to learn the game and play, regardless of ability. Bill worked to expand the department’s programs, including basketball, gymnastics, soccer and swimming. He used to say, "recreation is more than just sports," and added programs related to arts and crafts for all ages. He oversaw the management of the annual Fall Festival and expanded the number and scope of Neosho's parks and improved amenities.

Overall, Bill was an indefatigable booster for the community and dedicated to serving the city of Neosho -- a place that he believed was the best town in America.

After retirement, and with the children grown, Bill and Medge enjoyed traveling and having adventures. He even let Medge talk him into skydiving. He always enjoyed meeting for coffee with his cronies and entertaining family and friends with dinner parties. Bill loved to cook, and he was a perennial fixture at the First Christian Church Amore dinner where he showed off the pasta and bread recipes he learned from his Italian mother, Josephine.

Medge was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Throughout the ordeal, Bill was a truehearted companion, doing whatever he could to help bring her to full recovery. Sadly, Medge succumbed to her illness in December of 2004. Though Bill did his best to get on with life, he never remarried.

Surviving Bill are his son Will Crowe, and wife Margaret Jeffers; daughter Michelle Crowe; grandchildren Allie Crowe and husband Vasisht Ramasubramanian, Kirsti Banning, and Jeremy Banning; and great-granddaughter Charlotte Vasisht. He was preceded in death by his parents; William Crowe Sr. and Josephine Crowe, his sister Ann McCool, and his wife Margarette (Medge) Crowe.

A Visitation will be held from 5:00 – 6:30 pm on Monday, August 25, 2025, at Clark Funeral Home Chapel of Memories in Neosho, Missouri. The Funeral will take place at 10:00 am on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at First Christian Church of Neosho, Missouri.

Memorial contributions in memory of Bill may be made to The American Cancer Society on the Memorial Donation tab below or c/o Clark Funeral Home PO Box 66 Neosho, Missouri 64850.

Bill will be laid to rest at the Neosho IOOF Cemetery with full Military Honors provided by the Missouri Funeral Honors Program at a private graveside service.