Jimmie "Jim" Crawley Jr. Obituary

CRAWLEY, Jimmie G. Jr. “Jim” or “Little Jimmie”, 68, of Rapid River, formerly of Vassar, MI, passed away on Friday, March 13, 2026, at his residence. 

Funeral service will be held at 2pm Thursday, March 19, 2026, at the Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 West Hill Road, Flint. Pastor Steven Curtis officiating.

Visitation will be held at 12pm Thursday until the time of the service at the funeral home.

Burial in Evergreen Cemetery.

Jimmie was born in Flint, Michigan, on July 16, 1957, the son of the late Jimmie and Betty (Bragg) Crawley.

On May 17, 1997, he married Vicki Rae Arrand.

Jimmie was a cement finisher and dedicated over 20 years of service to C.A. Hull, working mostly on bridges. He was an extremely hard worker and a jack of all trades. He fell 30 feet from a bridge on his 40th birthday and sustained many injuries, but by the grace of God survived. From those injuries and many surgeries, he lived with a lifetime of pain, but his love for the Lord never wavered. He read his bible every day and would tell his grandchildren, “I love you, and the Lord loves you.” It was very important to him that his children and grandchildren were saved before he passed. 

Jimmie was a relentless teaser and jokester. He gave everyone a hard time. He always had a smile on his face and shared so many stories of his childhood getting into trouble with his cousins and brother, David. After each child was born in the family, he assigned them a nickname. They would be forever known by that nickname regardless of how they felt about it. Pumpkin, Animal, Bethy Boober, Booger, Pug, Doofy, Pumpkin Head, Mongo, Curly, Shemp, Wot Not, Fred, Reeda, to name a few.

He loved the woods. In his younger years, he would be out in the woods squirrel hunting in the day and coon hunting at night. He loved his dogs and had many over the years. He’d tell you he liked to hunt deer, but it was really an excuse to go out to his blind and take a nap. He enjoyed watching the deer. He was tighter than bark on a tree with his money, but when it came to feeding the deer, there was no budget. Each day, conversations were had about how many deer and turkeys came into the yard last night as he watched them from his kitchen window. 

But most of all, Jimmie loved his family. He was hard on them, had high expectations, and would never allow shortcuts to be taken, but he loved hard. There would never be a day that went by when he wouldn’t tell you he loved you and how proud of you he was. He always wanted to spend time with them, mainly to work you to death with all the chores he had lined up for you when you showed up, but hanging out and spending time with the people he loved was one of his favorite things to do. He was always quick to guilt-trip you if you didn’t want to drive 5 hours to see him. He will be greatly missed by his family, along with all his antics. 

But we can’t be sad because he was greeted by so many loved ones when he got to heaven and is no longer in pain. His memory will be forever loved and cherished.

Surviving are Children, Andrew (Erica) Williams, Charles Williams, Deanna (Jason) Williams, Felicia Jernigan, Cara (John) Johnson, Vanessa (Nathan) Cull, Matthew Florida and Bethany Crawley; 17 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Vicki, parents, brother, David Crawley. Many Uncles, Aunts, and cousins, with his favorite being Aunt Judy and his second father figure, Jimbo Bragg.