Menu
Robert Tallman Crain
Robert Tallman Crain, 90, of Fort Scott died early Sunday morning, June 14, 2015 at the Medical Lodge in Fort Scott. He was born on March 19, 1925 in Fort Scott, Kan., the son of John Tallman and Anna Josephine (Dudley) Crain. He married Bonnie J. Holden Sept. 11, 1948 in Pittsburg, Kan. Bonnie died Jan. 16, 2002. He married Carol J. Patterson April 23, 2005. She survives of the home.
Bob graduated from Fort Scott High School with the Class of 1942. He attended Fort Scott Community College from 1942-1943 before entering the U.S. Army Air Force. Bob served his country In WWII as an Aerial Navigator in the 8th Air Forces, stationed in Sudbury, England. On April 8, 1945 his plane was shot down during a mission over Hof, Germany. He was taken prisoner and held in Stalag VII-A, Moosberg, Germany until the end of the war. After discharge from the U.S. Army Air Force in 1945, he attended the University of Kansas. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and the Beta Gamma Sigma, Business School Honors Fraternity. After graduation in 1947 he worked as an accountant for Spencer Chemical Company in Pittsburg, Kan. In 1949, he returned to Fort Scott to join his father and later his brother, Don in business as a partner in the Crain Realty Company and Crain Insurance Agency. Bob served as a director on the board of Citizens National Bank from 1991 to 2009, a director on the board of Kansas Gas & Electric Company from 1981 to 1996 and a charter member, board member and past president of the Fort Scott Industries, Inc. from 1959 to 1982.
Throughout his life, Bob was active in community service. He was a member, board member and past president of the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Scott Area Planning Commission, the Bourbon County Board of Realtors, and the Fort Scott United Way. He was a longtime member of the National Association of Realtors and the Kansas Association of Realtors where he served as a past zone vice-president. Bob was a 50-year member of the Fort Scott Rotary Club. In addition, he was president of the Maple Grove Farms, Inc. and past president of the Evergreen Cemetery Association. Bob was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church serving over the years as an elder, deacon and treasurer.
In addition to his wife Carol, Bob is survived by his children, Jean S. Crowley and her husband Jack, Janice A. Maurer and her husband John, Robert H. Crain and his wife Linda; seven grandchildren, Kelly Peterson, Andrea Zeilenga, Michelle Crowley, Katherine Franklin, Amanda Bregin, Audrey Crain, and Stephen Maurer; six great-grandchildren; Caden, Levi, Elliot, Addison, Shane, and Isaac, and two step-sons, Stuart Patterson, and Brock Patterson. He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife, Bonnie, and his two brothers, John D. Crain and Donald W. Crain.
The Rev. Robert Crain, assisted by the Rev. Jared Witt, will conduct memorial services for Bob at 11 a.m. Friday, June 19, 2015 at the First Presbyterian Church under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home. The family will receive friends at the church beginning at 10 a.m. prior to services. Committal services will follow at 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Scott National Cemetery with Military Honors conducted at the cemetery by the Olson-Frary-Burkhart Post No. 1165 Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Detail. Family and friends will meet at First Presbyterian Church for a luncheon following interment. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church, The Beacon, or to a charity of the donor's choice and may be left in the care of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, 15 W. Wall St., P.O. Box 309, Fort Scott, KS, 66701.