- Date Of Birth: April 10, 1945
- Date Of Death: April 29, 2020
- State: Illinois
Gene A. Cronkright, age 75, died Wednesday evening, April 29, 2020 surrounded in love by his wife, Nancy (Bozeman), his sons, DeWayne (Ottawa, IL), and Aaron (Decatur, IL), and his daughters-in-law, Pamela (Nordstrom) and Amy (Merriman).
He is survived in death by his beloved grandchildren, Madison, Carleigh and Kaedon Cronkright, and Kayli and Darius Merriman; his brothers, Ellis (Rosemary) Cronkright of Burton, MI and Dennis Cronkright of Gladwin, MI; his sisters-in-law, Janice Cronkright of Des Plaines, IL and Mary Cronkright of Flint, MI, his brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Doreen Bozeman of Princeton, IL; his nieces and nephews, Eric, Todd, Tonya, and Kiera Cronkright, and Bradley and Brent Bozeman, and Brandi (Bozeman) Oberhill. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ellsworth and Dorothy Cronkright (Flint, MI), his in-laws, Robert and Zonia Bozeman (Flint, MI), and his nephew, Jason Cronkright.
Gene Cronkright lived a life of service. He was a 1963 graduate of Kearsley High School, Flint, MI, and in 1966, he married his love and partner, Nancy Bozeman. Gene’s career started as a Journeyman at General Motors, but soon he left with Nancy to pursue a BA in Theology at Texas Bible College. Gene’s highest desire was to honor God with his life and to share the transformational love of God with everyone he met.Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Gene was an Assistant Pastor in Pontiac, MI and Flint, MI, he pastored in Greensboro, NC, founded and pastored a church in Coldwater, MI and pastored in Fort Fairfield, ME.
He also founded and led a childcare center and a Christian Academy at South Flint Tabernacle in Flint, MI. Gene spent the last 20 years of his career (88-08) as a robotics technician at Mitsubishi Motors in Bloomington, IL. If you knew him as pastor, Sunday School teacher, union brother, or friend, you encountered that transformational love that was the driving force of his life. Gene loved cars. He loved fixing up old clunkers in his garage and equally loved his Nissan 300 ZX Turbo, his Mazda RX 7, his Diamante’s and his Corvette.
But nothing made him more proud than his boys, DeWayne and Aaron. They have their dad’s work ethic, character, intellect and curiosity, even though they have not yet reached his skill level of joke and storytelling.Nancy, Gene’s companion in ministry, parenting, adventure and Grandparenting was his greatest joy. There is no place that Gene would rather be than at his own table, enjoying a meal made by Nancy and shared with friends and family. He often mused at what the cost would be to have the same experience in a fine establishment.
Together, they had the good life.Gene was quick to forgive, he easily saw the good in you, he was gentle, and funny, quick to accept, and genuinely curious. He worked hard to remember your name and the things that were important to you. He had no reason to believe that you could not achieve your dreams. He was ready with a story, a joke, and a listening ear.Even after so much was taken by a massive stroke in 2001—the man who loved cars, could no longer drive, the man who was a brown-belt in Taekwondo had to learn how to walk again, the caretaker had to be taken care of, the preacher had a stutter, the mechanic became a sweeper—even then, especially then, he was kind, and gentle and thoughtful and generous.
His grandchildren only knew their post-stroke grandpa, and they lacked for nothing. He sang and read to them, he showed them how to feed the birds. He taught them to never leave home without a comb, a hanky, and your wallet. He was Madison’s afterschool Mac and cheese and coffee buddy. Gene never met a stranger in the coffee shop, he greeted every guest at church. To him, YOU were important. If you met him, you got a taste of transformational love. Gene lived well. He achieved his greatest desire of honoring God. Today, our hope rests in knowing that Gene is transformed by Love
