Obituary of J B Cranford

James Burl Cranford, 92, of Lafayette was born Sept. 21, 1925 and joined his wife to be with his Lord and Savior on July 16, 2018 at Hospice of Texarkana with all his family present. 

JB joined the Army in 1944 and served as a sergeant of the 808 Combat Engineers in the South Pacific during World War II, where he specialized as a demolition expert. He fought in the Battle of Luzon and Battle of Manila. He was awarded with various medals, decorations and citations for his service. He and the love of his live, Mildred Cranford, married April 14, 1951 and shared a beautiful and loving life of almost 53 years before she preceded him in death March 28, 2004. JB successfully started and ran 2 businesses in the downtown Houston area for almost 30 years. He also served as an elder for the Church of Christ in both Houston and Pittsburg.

He is survived by a sister, Mary Rushing; a son, James B. Cranford Jr and Debbie Cranford of Texarkana; a daughter, Debbie Conaway and Lynn Conaway of Wylie; grandchildren, Alethea Borrego, Codi Chinn, Kassy Pettigrew, Kimberlin Meador and James Garrett Cranford; along with eight great-grandchildren. 

Funeral services will be  held at 10:00 am on Thursday, July 19, 2018 at Erman Smith Funeral Home Chapel with burial at Lafayette Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday morning one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flower arrangements, JB and the family would like his memory celebrated by donations to Cherokee Home for Children located at PO Box 295, Cherokee, TX 76832.