David Crawford:
An Ambassador of Good Will

Crawford also influenced Victor Wilson, a member of the Class of 1979, who entered seminary after having had a career as deputy cruise officer on the Queen Elizabeth II. “David was what we British would call a ‘hail fellow, well met.’ He was a person with an intense amount of humanity, an endearing person who was always interested in and available to others,” says Wilson.

David Crawford in a familiar pose - listening to and speaking with a student.

A frequently told story about Crawford that Barbara Balcomb, his secretary of eleven years, confirms is that PTS students, seeing Crawford’s office light on late at night, would throw pebbles at the glass to get his attention, at which point they were always beckoned to come in.

“David was a friend to many, many people with whom he would spend long hours,” she recalls. “He was so thoughtful. At Thanksgiving and Christmastime he and his family would invite PTS students who could not get home for the holidays over to his house on Riverside Drive for dinner — and, more importantly, for the family football game in the front yard.”

Balcomb remembers the kindness that Crawford showed so many students, particularly the international students.

“At Christmas, he would buy fifty to sixty red poinsettia plants and distribute one to each international student,” she says. “He also initiated the international students’ clothing exchange, to help provide those students from warm climates with winter clothing. He was a true gentleman who loved the Seminary and its students.”

Such accessibility was enabled, according to George Toole (’63B, ’67M, ’82D), by Crawford’s ability to get by on very little sleep. In those hours when the rest of the world was sleeping, Crawford was frequently off in New York City ministering to the homeless and to prostitutes. As Toole says, “David was a man of high energy.”

Toole, who was born and raised in Princeton, first met Crawford in 1957 at the Second Presbyterian Church in town. But it was, at first, athletics, not religion, that drew them together. (Sports played a prominent role in Crawford’s life. His wife recalls that the first time they ever went out, he took her to a football game in Trenton. His devotion to Princeton University football and basketball was renowned, and he never missed a game if he could help it. Among two university students whom he encouraged to

Ultimately, Crawford became Toole’s mentor in faith, exposing him to books and people he had not previously encountered. And though Toole saw himself as an educator, Crawford encouraged him to attend seminary, saying, “It seems to me that you can’t turn down what you don’t know.” Crawford was a “responsible evangelical who believed that personal commitment to the faith and spiritual growth were as important as intellectual growth,” says Toole.

When Toole was ordained by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in May 1963, it was Crawford who preached. The title of his sermon, “Is This the One or Shall We Seek Another?” reveals the twinkle that was always in his eye.

“David had a quick wit and a mischievous sense of humor,” says Toole. “He also knew the teaching value of humor to make hard lessons easier to swallow.”

Others attest that Crawford always had a funny story or a joke to tell and that he always seemed to see the humor in situations, particularly at the Seminary. He was known for his excellent imitation of Dr. Mackay!

David Crawford with his daughter Care at a Seminary banquet in 1981.

And everyone who knew David Crawford knew what, after his faith, marked him most: he was a Scot through and through! His father was born in Scotland and pastored a parish in Yonkers, New York, which served the Scots working in the carpet mill there. Crawford and his wife (often with other members of the Crawford clan in tow) had returned to Scotland each summer for the past fifteen years. His colleagues at the Seminary testify that he wore something plaid every day, whether it was a tie, a pair of trousers or socks, or a vest, and that the photographs and paraphernalia in his office reflected his passion for the culture of John Knox and Robert Burns.

An avid admirer of Burns, Crawford could — and would — recite scores of his poems by heart. Each July 26th, the Crawford family celebrated Burns’s birthday complete with meatpies, shortbread, and bagpipes to accompany the festivities. This is a tradition that Crawford’s oldest daughter, Care (’82B, ’84M), continues.

Those who knew and loved David Crawford were dismayed when his health began to fail several years ago. Frustration grew as doctors were unable to identify the source of his decline. Once vibrant and energetic, he slowed down during the last few years of his life until on June 13, 1998, he suffered a heart attack while en route to an operation for “water on the brain.”

  Then say not “He is gone!”
  Nor think of him as dead.
  But say, “In his Father’s house
  He has arrived,” instead.

—From the poem “Arrived,” written by David Crawford’s mother, Mary Anderson Crawford