More detail on this person: Col. (Ret) Ted
Archer Crozier, Sr., age 91 of Clarksville, passed
away on Monday, January 9, 2017 at Blanchfield
Army Community Hospital.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m.
Saturday, January 14, 2017 at Madison Street
United Methodist Church with Rev. Cliff Wright
officiating. Burial with full Military Honors will
follow at Greenwood Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday, January
13, 2017 at McReynolds-Nave & Larson Funeral
Home and from 11 a.m. until the hour of service on
Saturday at Madison Street United Methodist
Church.
Ted was born October 27, 1925 in Meriden, CT. to
the late Wesley Thomas and Flora Crozier. Ted
retired as Colonel after 32 faithful years of
service in the U.S. Army. He served as the first
Aviator Chief of Staff 101st Airborne Division. In
1978, Crozier was elected and served two terms as
Mayor of Clarksville.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 36 years,
and the mother of his children, Mary Tom Wall
Crozier.
Survivors include his wife, Betty Newhouse
Crozier; sons, Judge Ted Archer Crozier, Jr. and
his wife Ann Marie and Tom Crozier and his wife,
Mary Dale; daughter, Kari Rassas and her husband,
Mark; children by marriage, Vicki Ford, Drake
Ford, and Jane Ford Roberts and her husband
Walter; grandchildren, Allen Rassas, Tyler Rassas,
Clair Crozier Lawson, Thomas Rassas, Lee
Rassas, Mary Tom Crozier, Blake Crozier, Caroline
Crozier, Mary Ryan Rassas, Martin Crozier, and
William Hale.
His grandsons will serve as Pallbearers. Honorary
Pallbearers will be BG (Ret.) Wendell Gilbert,
Gen. (Ret.) Gary Luck, LTG (Ret.) Hugh Smith,
Gen. (Ret.) Binnie Peay, Gen. (Ret.) John
Wickham, Col. (Ret.) Tom Denny, BG Paul
Bontrager, CSM (Ret.) Robert Nichols, CSM (Ret.)
Darol Walker, Bill Harpel, Phil Harpel, and Jack
Turner.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be
made to the Ted and Mary Tom Crozier Scholarship
Endowment c/o APSU P.O. Box 4177, Clarksville,
TN 37044, Wings of Liberty Museum P.O. Box
2133, Ft. Campbell, KY 42223, or SAFE (Soldiers
and Families Embraced) 812 Haynes Street,
Clarksville, TN 37043.
Online condolences may be made at
NaveFuneralHomes.com.
Published in The Leaf Chronicle on Jan. 11, 2017
Clarksville mourns passing of former Mayor Ted
Crozier, Mayor McMillan orders flags flown at
half-staff in his honor, Posted Date: 1/10/2017
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Clarksville Mayor
Ted Crozier Sr., who devoted his life to family,
country and community, died Monday from a
respiratory illness at the age of 91.
Col. Crozier served in the U.S. Army for 32 years,
retiring at the rank of colonel in 1977. He served
as the first Commander of the 101st Combat
Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell and was the
first aviator to serve as the chief of staff for
the 101st Airborne Division.
In November 1978 Col. Crozier was elected
Clarksville Mayor, and was re-elected to a second
term in 1982. In all, he would hold the office for
eight years. As mayor he is credited with
expanding the city and ensuring economic growth
by leading the effort to annex St. Bethlehem in
the 1980s. This move led to the addition of
Governor's Square Mall and expansion of the retail
district around Interstate 24 at Exit 4.
To honor Col. Crozier, Mayor Kim McMillan ordered
that flags at all city facilities shall be lowered
to half-staff effective immediately and returned
to full-staff at sunset on the day of his
interment.
"I'm deeply saddened by the passing of former
Mayor Ted Crozier, who was a dear friend and close
adviser to me for many years," Clarksville Mayor
Kim McMillan said Monday. "Ted gave decades of
honorable service to our country as an Army
officer, and his love for Fort Campbell expanded
into his devotion to Clarksville.
"Mayor Crozier and a key group of his Army
colleagues understood how drawing Fort Campbell
and Clarksville closer together would be good for
both, and he worked tirelessly to close the gap
between the installation and the City.
"Ted helped all of us value the unique
relationship between the city and Fort Campbell,
and he inspired me to create a formal Military
Liaison office within City Government," Mayor
McMillan said. "He truly was a visionary leader,
and one of the architects of the strong and
thriving Clarksville we enjoy today."
Col. Crozier also presided as Chairman of the
Board of Directors for the Fort Campbell
Historical Foundation and added his expertise and
leadership to many local oganizations over the
years. A stretch of roadway connecting Warfield
Boulevard and Wilma Rudolph Boulevard bears the
name Ted A. Crozier Sr. Boulevard to honor his
legacy.
A Celebration of Life ceremony will be at 1 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 14 at Madison Street United
Methodist Church with Rev. Cliff Wright
officiating, according to McReynolds-Nave & Larson
Funeral Home, the mortuary in charge. Burial with
full Military Honors will follow at Greenwood
Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13
at McReynolds-Nave & Larson Funeral Home and
from 11 a.m. until the hour of service on Saturday
at Madison Street United Methodist Church.
Army Aviation Hall of Fame 1989 Induction
During his 32 years of service Colonel Crozier
served continuously in aviation and infantry units
from company through brigade levels. He
commanded the 76-aircraft 101st Aviation
Company, that utilized the Army's first UH-1As for
field testing, a unit that was later reorganized
into the Army's first aviation battalion.
His Company was the first to demonstrate
troop-rappelling from the UH-1A, to use multiple
refueling points, and to use camouflage-painted
UH-1As. The 101st Aviation Battalion (Prov)
became the model for future battalions in SOPs,
ATTs, etc.
As a LTC(P), Crozier was selected to command
and reorganize the division's aviation assets
along with the USARV assets into the 160th
Aviation Group (later the 101st Aviation Group),
while maintaining its combat commitments to
include the five-division assault into the Ashau
Valley. This one-year task took six months and
included a successful Command Maintenance
Management Inspection. During this period the
101st Airborne Division (AASLT) was selected as
AAAA's "Aviation Unit of the Year."
He then became Chief of the 16,000-member
Aviation Warrant Officer Branch, his many
innovative approaches improving many aspects of
AWO management. Later, he served as President
of the Army portion of the DoD Close Air Support
Study, which prevented the Army's attack
helicopters from being placed under USAF
command and control.
The first Aviator to serve as Chief of Staff of
the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT), he was
responsible for all facets of training and the
101st's deployment to Europe for REFORGER
1976. Crozier still serves the 101st as the first
"Honorary Colonel of the 101st Aviation Regiment.
Burial information: Greenwood Cemetery
This information was last updated 01/12/2017
Please send additions or corrections to: HQ@vhpa.org VHPA Headquarters
Return to the Helicopter Pilot DAT name list
Return to VHPA web site
Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association