In Memoriam: Tommy F. McCraw

1928-2014

by HPS staff

Tommy F. McCraw, 86, Burnside Drive, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, died Friday, 13 June 2014, at the Gettysburg Lutheran Home after a short illness.

Born 1 March 1928 in Gaffney, South Carolina, he was the son of the late French V. and Corinne Shields McCraw. Tommy is survived by his wife, Janice Hafey McCraw.

Tommy was an active member of the Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was a 1949 graduate of Clemson University and was a longtime member of the Health Physics Society. He continued that membership after his official retirement in 1997 and eagerly looked forward to receiving his copy of the Health Physics Journal each month. It gave him much pleasure to keep up a little with the happenings in the health physics world.

Tommy was a skilled and respected nuclear physicist who worked for the U.S. government for more than 40 years in several agencies in a variety of capacities dealing with nuclear physics. His specialty was in radiological safety. During his career, Tommy worked for the Air Force Intelligence Center, National Bureau of Standards—Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Energy, and Energy Research and Development Administration. As his career was winding down, he became the principal scientist for safety studies for the Mars Pathfinder and the Cassini Mission to Saturn. He was a contributing writer of a number of articles in the Health Physics Journal. After retiring from his work with the U.S. government, Tommy ended his career as a consultant for the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Medical and Health Sciences Division.

In retirement, Tommy enjoyed piloting single-engine planes and riding motorcycles. He was a talented clarinetist who sang for more than 20 years with the Towne Singers of Chambersburg and was a member of the Redskin Marching Band. Tommy was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and was a ham radio operator. He enjoyed fishing, particularly in Lake Heritage, and was involved with raising striped bass for the Lake Heritage Fishing Club by creating a system to help populate the lake with mature healthy striped bass. He loved living at Lake Heritage and spending time on his boat and on the patio overlooking the lake with his family.

In addition to his wife, Tommy is survived by four children, David Stewart and his wife Sue of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, Tamra McCraw of Washington, DC, Kent McCraw and his wife Sang of Simpsonville, South Carolina, Ruth Burke and her husband Steve of Dallas, Texas; six grandchildren, Nicole Marks and her husband Adam, Dana Lou Stewart, Ian McCraw, Conor McCraw, Brodie Burke, and Patrick Burke; and a great-granddaughter, Cali Christine Marks.