Norman Clifford Crandall

Norman Clifford Crandall born on Febuary 19, 1948 in Flint, Michigan, passed away peacefully on December 14, 2023 in his home in Decatur, Georgia with his wife and family. He had courageously battled as he called it, "the bastard" pointing to his pancreatic cancer in his abdomen for several months. It tried its darndest to bring him down, but he kept up a good fight. Despite the illness, he maintained his fighting spirit until the very last hours, where he finally succumbed and wrote on a sheet of paper, unable to talk well, "WAR DONE".

Although his cancer defined most of his time the last few months, he will not be remembered as anything other than a generous, smart and a tough man. He started his life in Michigan, where he developed his passion for being a mechanic by learning from his dad, and later working on muscle cars and racing with friends. In his earlier family years, with his first wife he moved to the Upper Penninsula Michigan and lived off-grid, having his only child Lisa. He built his own cabin from the ground up, chopped fire wood for the winter and even built his own generator systemfor power. That is all still standing today.

After living in the Upper Penninsula, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He was an excellent heating and air conditioning technician for large industrial and refrigeration equipment. He was the man that kept us all cool in these wicked southern summers. He was known as a very methodical, patient mechanic. Norm could fix the equipment everyone had given up on. The units that most people said needed to be replaced, he could come perform his magic and get it working again. His mechanical talent was endless. If you ever had something broken, Norm was always the one to call. He knew how systems worked, and was great with his hands. He had great pride in the dirt under his fingernails. It was his badge of honor, his contribution to this world. The

generosity ran deep in this area, anyone around him that had air conditioning problems, Norm would come and fix it. He loved helping people stay cool.

He had a passion for dogs, and found his second wife, Carolyn Brown while walking dogs in the neighborhood. They both fell in love and enjoyed the last 22 years together. They always enjoyed traveling together, they went to New Orleans LA, England, lots of camping, and were even starting to plan a trip to Australia. As his wife always called him, her "Mr. Wonderful" with his baby blue eyes will be greatly missed.

He loved to be outdoors, whether it was his version of hunting, sitting on a bucket with his black powder rifle enjoying nature, or camping in his little A-liner pop up trailer. The quietness of being out of the city drove him. He frequently visited his piece of land in Tennessee he shared with his brother and to see his daughter in South Georgia, where he could escape the hustle and bustle of city life. One of his biggest projects the last couple years of his life was clearing and organizing a piece of raw land in Old Fort, TN with his brother. Larry and him did a large amount of work to clear the land by hand, he was so proud of what they had accomplished, that he wanted it to live on with Larry.

His loyalty to his family was a pillar of his life. His daughter, Lisa through many years of

schooling became a eye surgeon and physician and started her own practice. Due to his

generosity, he always helped her move, but due to the amount of transitions in training, she moved ALOT. He would always say, "why do we have to always move on the hottest day of the year? Can't they end school in December sometimes?" School always ended in the height of the summer heat, but he never missed a move, despite the misery. He was very proud of all of her accomplishments, even in the last few months with all the medical management she helped him navigate, he called her his Guardian Angel. He was so generous, that when she started dating Justin, he took him under his wing. He treated Justin as his own child. He taught him how to fix a car, they learned how to brew beer together, got him into shooting guns, helped develop

the man skills he never got as a child. Norm was an amazing father and grandfather. He will always be remembered for his helpful hand and steady commitment to his family.

Norman Crandall will be enormously missed. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Brown, his daughter Elizabeth "Lisa" Crandall and son-in law Justin Crandall, and his three grandchildren, Alexander Norman Crandall, Jaxson Crandall and Lillian Crandall, his brother Lawrence "Larry" Crandall and his sister Judy Church. His name and legacy will live on, through our memories and his family continuing the traditions he admired.

Norm's visitation will be December 28th from 4 to 7pm at A.S Turner & Sons Funeral home (where he used to work for many years on their equipment) 2773 N Decatur Rd, Decatur, GA 30033. There will then be a Catholic service in his honor at Cannon Chapel at Emory University (where Carolyn and him were married) 515 South Kilgo Circle, NE Atlanta, GA 30322 on December 30th at 1pm by Father John Boll. If you do not want to send flowers or plants, you can make a donation to the NRA foundation in his honor https://www.nrafoundation.org/donate/ or the American Cancer Society https://donate.cancer.org