Thomas Fisher Craft, Jr.

On Thursday, June 15, 2017 Charon the boatman ferried the soul of Thomas Fisher Craft, Jr. across the river Styx. The son of the late Thomas Fisher Craft and Emily Bridges Craft, Fisher was born and raised in Macon, GA. He attended Winship Grammar School, Lanier High School for Boys, and studied piano and pipe organ at Wesleyan Conservatory. His college career began at Mercer University, but was interrupted by a year of service in the U.S. Army. During his Mercer days, he was elected to a number of honor organizations, including Blue Key. He served as chapel organist and was president of the Alpha Zeta Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. Upon graduation he continued as church organist for Centenary Methodist Church while teaching chemistry at Mercer. It was then on to Emory University for a Master of Arts degree in organic chemistry, but more importantly, marriage to Laurel Dean Gray, the girl around the corner, from his early high school days. He worked for Dow Chemical Company for several years, but the lure of academe led him to Georgia Tech, where he earned a Master of Science degree (sanitary engineering) and a PhD (nuclear engineering).As a Senior Research Scientist at Georgia Tech he was involved in basic research fundamental to the disposal of radioactive wastes, and authored or co-authored more than fifty scientific papers and reports. Using radiotracer techniques, he studied water and wastewater problems, and became president of the 2000 member Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association. He was involved in many professional organizations, including American Chemical Society, American Nuclear Society, Health Physics Society, Georgia Academy of Science, American Water Works Association, Water and Pollution Control Federation, and Sigma Xi.

He also was a consultant for the Georgia Department of Archives and History where he wrote numerous successful proposals for funding. Notable among them was the “Vanishing Georgia” project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The book that resulted is still in print. The federal Comprehensive Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1984 was the source of multimillion dollar funding for microfilming probate court records of the counties of Georgia.

Woodworking was a lifetime hobby, but upon retirement genealogical research became a major activity, leading to membership in a number of hereditary groups including The General Society of the Colonial Wars, The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia, Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, The Royal Order of St. George, and a major involvement in The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, including President of the Atlanta Chapter, President of the Georgia Society, Trustee of the Switzerland Society, and Vice President General of the National Society. He was a member of numerous committees, long-time secretary of the Atlanta Chapter, and held the Minute-man Award, the highest honor of the National Society. In his later years he was known for his large repertoire of jokes and puns which he called “stupid remarks for all occasions”. He was a long time member of Decatur First United Methodist Church, and is survived by his greatly beloved wife, Laurel Craft, and their wonderful daughter, Deana Craft Trott and her husband, Gary David Trott; grandsons, Michael David Trott and Scott Wesley Trott and his wife, Collins; and two great grandsons.

Donations may be made to Wesleyan College Chapel Fund, 4760 Forsyth Road, Macon, GA 31210-4462.

The family will receive friends at 1 p.m. with a funeral service at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 17, in the chapel of A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home with interment to follow at Decatur Cemetery.

Feel free to leave the family your condolences via the guestbook provided.