David Leigh Crary

A renaissance man and entrepreneur, David Leigh Crary left this world the same way he lived, on his own terms, on May 17, 2016. Eighty five years before, he was born in Brevard, NC on July 4, 1930 to Truman Bishop Crary and Marie Alice Crary, a brick mason and a school teacher, and to a host of respectable older brothers and sisters: Roy, Charles, May, Phoebe, Jack, Joseph, and William Crary. All but one, Phoebe, predeceased him, as did his wife, Merlyn, and his son, Mark. David remained calm, cool, and collected all of his life, and kept his secrets close to his vest. There were only two times that he was ever known to lose his cool. One of those times was upon the death of his wife, Merlyn Oneva Davis, whom he had married on June 8, 1957 (after having used a fireman’s ladder to rescue her from the clutches of an infatuated doctor who had kept her locked up on the second floor of a tuberculosis hospital for half a decade.) and whom he lost on March 24, 2000. He never stopped loving her, giving her everything he thought she wanted, including four children still somewhat residing in northern Greenville County: David, Raymond, and Mark Crary, and Elisabeth Crary Parris. There are many theories about what David did throughout his life, but he never told. Legends have him building a bridge over the French Broad River using only a chainsaw, his logging truck, and ropes for a family camping trip, landing his plane in Mexican desert in the middle of the night and hiking miles to find gas before flying back out again, being forced down in the winter seas one Christmas by fighter pilots and swimming three days before being picked up by a Chinese freighter, purposely taking his shrimp boat out into a hurricane to ride out the storm in an attempt to save it instead of having it battered to bits on the Charleston docks, flying secret missions to hotspots allover the world, and frequently riding his bicycle from Asheville, N.C to Marietta, SC in his 50‘s for quick visits to family…but legends are better left just that, legend. Absolutely, David believed in morals and ethics, and devoured classic literature, newspapers, how-to manuals, history, and philosophy all his life as though they were caviar. He was a strong believer in the phrase, “God helps those whom help themselves.” He had little respect and no patience for those who were lazy, slovenly, or addicted. He disliked the constant dividing and labeling of people and from his youth on usually filled out all forms with the answers thus: Occupation? retired hippie. Religion? God. Race? black. Sex? It would be nice. War record? I’m again it! In truth, he had gotten his pilot license as a teen, and had been promised a fighter pilot’s position in the army by an unscrupulous recruiter who saw a write up of his exploits in the local newspaper and approached him. He hadn’t known that only college boys got to be pilots, and ended up spending most of his enlistment in the brig, (due to the only other time that he lost his cool!) The sign suspended over his workshop door read, “Jack of All Trades.” Throughout his life, he owned many rental units, fixed any type of machinery that made life easier or that could roll, float, or fly, helped folks with calf deliveries, did electrician, plumbing, and carpentry work, laid brick, flew plane missions, drove a greyhound bus, ran a shrimp boat, wrote poetry, made and lost and made his fortune playing the stock market from the comfort of his apartment, and fabricated inventions. Few truly knew him, but many loved him, as he helped so many throughout his life. Besides his surviving children, David leaves behind a slew of grandchildren and great grandchildren in northern Greenville and in northern Florida, each one blessed with his legacy of intelligence, undeniable charm, and a ready smile.


David Leigh Crary
July 4, 1930- May 17, 2016
Travelers Rest, S.C.
“Never stop learning. If you get too old to learn new things, it is time to die.” David Leigh Crary