Robert Eugene Crouch Sr's Obituary
Robert Eugene Crouch, Sr, age 76, of Fayetteville, AR, passed away Monday, June 17, 2024.
His friends knew him as “Bob” and his family affectionately came to know him as “Papa,” the name bestowed by his grandchildren. Seeing Papa elicited belly laughs from those grandchildren, who would sprint to receive his bear hug and then promptly be escorted to the always opened “convenience store,” A.K.A. candy closet, personally stocked by Papa with all the items the parents routinely denied or, at the very least, limited. His embrace of being a grandfather was simply an extension of his first calling: being a patriarch by having become an ever more loving husband to his wife, Deborah Diana Arnold Crouch, and devoted father to his three children Robert Eugene Crouch, Jr, Christopher Loyd Crouch, and Amy Renee Crouch-Woole. Other survivors include Robert Crouch, Jr.’s spouse, Michele Lynn Tenney Crouch; Amy Woole’s spouse, Ricky Edward Woole, II; his grandchildren, Josephine Frances Crouch, Deborah Elaine Crouch, Margaret Ann Crouch, Ricky Edward Woole III, and Mikayla Diana Woole-Morrison; his brothers, Fred Bridge and Norman Bridge.
Bob maintained an unabashed faith in Jesus Christ that he shared with anyone he encountered. He especially embodied the Biblical teachings that addressed giving. Seeing a person in need prompted Bob to action, not sympathy. His family can recount times when he invited a homeless person to a restaurant to share a meal and when he opened his home to a family friend and her children when they needed a safe respite while gathering the resources needed to start a new life. He did not assume himself capable of healing and repairing those lives, but maintained a faith that perhaps being treated with care and dignity, even if just for a moment, would provide the bit of hope needed to help those individuals move closer to God, closer to health, and closer to stability.
Following six honorable years of service in the United States Army, Bob resigned his active duty officer's commission, but continued his military service as a Captain in the United States Army Reserves. Bob also built a career as a coach and educator with the Arkadelphia Public Schools. He focused as much on teaching his players the values of perseverance, determination and integrity as he did the fundamental skills associated with their respective sports.
Once his children grew older and more independent, he allowed himself the tortuous joy of becoming a golfer. He applied to this endeavor those very qualities of determination and perseverance that he taught his athletes. Owning a slight stubborn streak and natural athletic talent, Bob largely self-coached his way to a single-digit handicap. Of course, this pursuit required hours of practice and to keep himself close to home, he eventually fashioned a tree-line behind his and his neighbors’ houses into a mini-driving range. Fortunately for him and his neighbors, skill allowed him to avoid breaking any windows in the two decades he maintained that practice range.
He also applied this self-teaching approach to the art of gardening, eventually creating a small plot for various vegetables that stocked his, his family’s and his friends’ kitchens with fresh produce summer after summer. Golf and gardening kept Bob in the outdoors, where he found peace and joy. We leave his body now to rest in a place of peace and know his spirit is home with the God of his faith.
Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at Nelson Berna Funeral Home in Fayetteville. Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 21, at Living Faith Church, 1396 Morningside, Fayetteville, AR, with Pastor Steve Curtis officiating. Burial with military honors will follow at 12:30 p.m. in Fayetteville National Cemetery. As a lifelong Razorback fan, we encourage you to celebrate Bob’s life by wearing your favorite Razorback fan attire to the visitation and or his funeral service.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to The Israeli Fund @ House of David, P.O. Box 850, Fairland, OK 74343.
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