Mayor's passing touches many.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - It's no secret that Larry Crowley spent thousands of hours serving his community as an elected official for more than a quarter-century.

But people attending a Saturday Celebration of Life for the late mayor are likely also to learn some of the quiet, un<302>official ways Crowley touched lives in the town where he lived his entire life.

Crowley died of bladder cancer July 16 - just a week after resigning from the unpaid office he loved. He was 63.

News of his death prompted an outpouring of such accounts from those who had known him over the years, said his daughter, Angie Norris.

In an e-mail to Norris, Stayton resident Judy Goldan Dixon recounted Crowley's kindness to her when she moved to Junction City in the 1950s as a fourth-grader.

"Your dad was my first friend in Miss Frazier's class," she wrote. "We put on a play that year, and he was Hansel and I was Gretel. He was always so kind to me and everyone else. When Larry became your friend, he was a friend for life. He is one of those rare people that gave so much to others but demanded little in return."

Junction City resident Roger Mickelson wrote to make a similar point, saying how much he appreciated Crowley treating him as an equal in high school, despite the fact that Crowley was a senior and Mickelson a freshman.

Crowley continued to show others such respect even when he was mayor, said Mickelson, who went on to run a Junction City-based small business mucking out repossessed houses.

"Some people lord it over you when they have a higher position, but not Larry," Mickeson said on Friday. "Boy, howdy, he was a unique individual. ... Others seemed to make choices by how it would benefit themselves most. Not so with Larry."

Junction City native Richard Vandiver agreed in an e-mail to The Register-Guard. Vandiver sent the message from his home in Burleson, Texas, in response to a July 17 story about Crowley's death.

"Somewhere in Heaven there is a gathering of old friends - friends who lived for decades on a short, dead-end street in Junction City," he wrote. "They are getting together to welcome home the Mayor, Larry Crowley."

Vandiver went on to explain that his late parents, Jim and Yvette Vandiver, lived "just a couple doors down" from Crowley on the same street.

"In their later years when Dad experienced health problems and Mom was trying to take care of everything at the house, Larry would frequently stop by and mow the lawn," Vandiver wrote. "They didn't ask for help, and he didn't ask if they wanted any. That's the kind of friend and neighbor Larry was. If you needed anything, Larry was there and got it done.

`Mom would brag when we talked on the phone, `Imagine living in a small town where the mayor stops by to mow your lawn!''

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

City officials and family set public remembrance of late Junction City Mayor Larry Crowley

When: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Old Junction City Fire Hall, 175 W. Seventh St.