Dr. John 'Jack' Crawford Crelling

CARBONDALE – John “Jack” Crelling, 77, passed away on Thursday, September 27, 2018 at Manor Court of Carbondale.



John (Jack) Crawford Crelling was born in Philadelphia, PA on June 13, 1941. His mother was Margaret Emily (Fisher) Crelling and his father was Gerard Pearce Crelling, a construction electrician. He was raised in Philadelphia until 1954 when the family moved to Marshallton, Delaware. In 1964 he graduated from the University of Delaware with a B.A. in Geology and went on to The Pennsylvania State University where he earned his M.S. in Geology in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Geology in 1972. Before he graduated from the Pennsylvania State University he served as Captain in the Army Corps of Engineers. During his military service he taught at the Army Engineer School at Ft. Belvoir, VA until June of 1969 when he was assigned duty as the commanding officer of the 579th Engineer Detachment (Terrain Intelligence) in the Republic of Viet Nam where he earned the Bronze Star Medal. He returned to The Pennsylvania State University in 1970 to complete his education.



In 1972 he took a position at the Homer Research Laboratories of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation as a research engineer until 1977 when he became an assistant professor of geology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, IL. While he was at SIUC he received a number of awards for both his teaching and scientific research on coal. He retired from teaching in 2006 but continued his research.



In 1967 he married Elizabeth Carol Anne Matheson in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The couple had two children: James Alexander Crawford born in 1974 who is now an aerospace engineer in California and Ian Matheson Pearce born in 1978 who is a regional planner for Bay County, Florida.



He is survived by his wife and sons, a daughter-in-law, Lindsey, two grandchildren, Emma Elizabeth Jane Crelling and Ian Matheson Pearce Crelling Jr. and a sister Deanie Reinhardt of East Derry, NH and a sister-in-law Margaret Matheson of Kingston, Ontario, Canada.



He was a life-long Episcopalian and attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Carbondale where he served on the vestry and as a church warden. He had a keen interest in Sherlock Holmes stories and was a member of the Occupants of the Empty House, a local Sherlockian group.



A Funeral Service will be held at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Memorials may be made to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and envelopes will be provided.



Meredith Funeral Home of Carbondale assisted the family with arrangements. For more information please visit www.meredithfh.com.