Robert L. Croddy

Birth date: Jul 19, 1941 Death date: Dec 17, 2007

Mr. Robert L. (Bob) Croddy, 66, of Huntsville, Arkansas, passed away, Monday, December 17, 2007, in Fayetteville. He was born July 19, 1941, in Kokomo, Indiana, the son of Donald Eugene and Rebecca Catherine Adams Croddy. He gradu Read Obituary

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Sharron Croddy, Bob's Wife

374w ago

Dear Family and Friends, I received this tribute to Bob from our friend and colleague Connie tenBerge in June, 1010.
She was my student teacher years ago, then she joined Bob and me in the science department at Huntsville Middle School, which served grades 6-9. Bob taught 6th-grade science, Connie 7th, and I 9th. I think you also will be touched when you read a fellow teacher's reflections on Bob. Love to you all, Sharron
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Sharron,

I am sorry that this has been so long in coming. Somehow I keep putting it on the back burner. It's probably because I'm not very good at this type of thing. I was in Monticello the day of Bob's memorial service. Since this is so late, I hope that it comes at a time when it might be needed.

Bob was an exceptional teacher. Kids didn't realize how much they learned from him because of his untraditional ways of teaching. As the teacher that followed him, I will always be grateful for the knowledge that he imparted to his students. Little did they know how important some of his lessons were to their total education.

I thought I would share some of the things that I remember about Bob Croddy.

1. He was always a gentleman. Never did I hear him use foul language in the presence of women. He would open doors and believed ladies went first.
2. He stood for what was right. He didn't seek conflict, but never shied from it.
3. He was very clever. He could use words in a unique way to get his point across. (Which produced some great satirical cartoons on education in Huntsville!)
4. He could use demonstrations in class to get scientific ideas across. He could use materials in creative ways (i.e.: the Tardis)
5. Potato guns always make me think of Bob!
6. Dr. Who/Bob and his cool Tardis/desk.
7. Bob made a paper version of Battleship. Little did the students know that they were using thinking skills while they "played".
8. I love Halloween and loved that Bob loved it too!
9. Who else could get so much out of Star Wars or the Hobbit!
10. Grading parties!

I hope you know that I respected him and appreciated him for his unique ways of teaching. He was missed here at school after retiring and his presence is now missed in our community.

You will always be my "Master Teacher" and friend.
Connie tenBerge

Frank King ("Army Buddy")

374w ago

It has been said before: not a day goes by that I don't miss Bob. There were so many more things to do. So much more to learn about each other. For crying out loud, when he sent me a Bowie knife as a birthday present in 2007, it was then that I learned he collected knives. We knew each other 40 years and I was still finding out new stuff. My priest said he was asked if he believed in heaven. He said "I want to believe and I want to see those I loved once moere". Yeah!

Ben Bolinger (Acquaintance)

374w ago

I am an old high-school classmate of Robert's and was sorry to hear of his passing. I have thought of him through the years and I would have liked to have gotten to speak with him and talk with him one more time before his passing. I would like his family to know that I wish for them God's best blessings.
Sincerely,
Ben Bolinger

Mary Ellen Duvall (Acquaintance)

374w ago

Mr. Croddy was one of the most amazing teachers I ever had. I still remember learning circuitry in his 6th grade class; an invaluable bit of learning in the world we live in today. I will NEVER forget his reading of the JR Tolkien books to us if we finished and cleaned up our labs early. His narration was the best! I tried to duplicate it when I read to my son years later (although it must not have been as good, because he chose to read the books for himself!)

I will always remember this man as an important part of my education, just as his wife, Sharon was. What an amazing couple! So blessed we were to have them teaching us!

Jerry Vervack (Bike Rider)

374w ago

To Bob,

You taught me how to ride a Harley when all I had was a dream and now every day that I ride that bike you will go with me in spirit. My memories of you also include NWACC and our CEEP program, which Laura Selph directed for the college, and your motorcyle course which put many safe riders on the road.

You will be missed by so many friends and I wish you a safe ride to your final destination.

Your friend,

Jerry

Laura Selph (Acquaintance)

374w ago

I worked with Bob through NWACC, he taught motorcycle riding classes through the CEEP program for several years. His classes were the most popular in the program. It was always a pleasure to see Bob come in for his roster. He had a smile and kind word for everyone he saw. His students frequently reported back that his class was the best they had every taken. He was kind, yet firm on safety issues. Thanks to you Bob, there are many people riding safely on the streets today. You will be missed.

Donald D Croddy (Brother)

374w ago

I will miss you my brother, my friend.

Danny & Sabrina Reed (Former Student)

374w ago

We are really going to miss seeing Bob at our store. Sharon, I mentioned to you in our conversation earlier about
how Bob was one of my first biscuit and gravy customers. We truly will miss him. Sabrina

Cheryl Voloshin (Student)

374w ago

When I was ten I moved to a tiny town in Arkansas from Ohio (everything that I was allowed to take with me was crammed into an overnight case). After 800 miles through the thunderstorms and early June heat of the Midwest, we arrived at the foot of our rocky driveway, now a legend in the minds of all 5 children who spent their last days of childhood getting the running start to scale it in a car, hauling wood up its rutted face, fighting its gravity every day. In the first months of our stay, we began to remodel, a painfully-never-quite-finished project that would take years. We walked on planks to the toilet (which we flushed with water from a bucket because the well was too shallow and mostly dry). With no roots in the community, we clung to one another. We were odd and Catholic and nothing that felt welcome in this tiny town.

Fifth grade was a haze of peer-judged kissing contests in a brambled ditch, songs about dinosaurs in science class, uncomfortable friendships and less comfortable enemies. Kids were different here. Girls were different here. I had no idea how to be or who to be that wouldn?t get my ass kicked. And I came from a place, where it was a really good idea to do some ass-kicking yourself up front, you know, to set the tone.

Enter sixth grade, Mrs. Easterling, whose impossibly high-waisted skirts, beehive hairdo and chatty Monday morning patter about Sunday Services were reliable distractions. But for me, the highlight was Mr. Croddy?s class. It wasn?t my best class, that would always be English, but Mr. Croddy was ?cool (whatever cool means to the chronically uncool). He had an easy conversational style. He marked all the correct answers instead of just the ones that were wrong. And when he read us The Hobbit as he?d read to all of his classes, he used a brogue accent for the Troll scene and was the best thing we had of Middle Earth before Peter Jackson.

I didn?t know what it was then, but in the years since, in conversations and random visits a fond student pays a favorite teacher, I always knew that how to make a rockin? paper airplane was the least of my lessons from him. More than anything, Mr. Croddy treated me like a human long before anyone else did. He looked at me and saw value and spark where others saw, aw hell, I don?t know what they saw, but it didn?t feel good. And with that, one person seeing something good in me, I began to find my place in a tiny town that had no place for me. In my most embarrassing adolescent moments, he gave quiet advice with a personal parable rather than a pedantic preach. And he was always willing to let me hang around and chat or beat me yet again at chess (which I never got any good at). Without knowing, and maybe without even intending, he mentored me through the years to be a person who cared little for foolishness, who looked for the spark in others and who trusts life to bring the people we need. And to those who teased about my ?crush?, I say, yes, indeed I loved Mr. Croddy and I will miss him. He treated me as if I mattered and that has made all the difference.

(Colleague)

374w ago

Working with Bob at the Middle School was quite an honor. He was a very good teacher and colleague. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Glenda Thompson

Cheryl Voloshin (Student)

374w ago

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