Obituary of William Hunter Crabtree

William H. Crabtree Bill came to the end of his life's journey on April 7, 2016, at Canterbury on the Lake, in Waterford, where he had many good friends. He was born on December 6, 1920, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Bruce Isbester Crabtree and Anna Hunter Crabtree, and became a young man in Delray Beach, Florida, during the Great Depression. In World War II, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Hawaii, where he served as part of the Signal Corps team that deciphered codes used by the Japanese forces in the Pacific. After the war, he completed his law degree at Vanderbilt University Law School, and in 1947, married Martha Kirkpatrick, who has been his loving wife ever since. Bill practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee, until 1955, when he moved himself and his young family to Washington, D.C., where he served as counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and was later employed in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. In 1961, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he served as Assistant General Counsel for Westinghouse Corporation. In 1968, he came to Detroit, where he served the automobile industry as General Counsel of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturer's Association until his official retirement in 1993, when he began his final legal employment as Of Counsel at Fabrizio & Webster, P.C., in Bloomfield Hills. In his private life, Bill was an active member of Christ Church Cranbrook and the Birmingham Senior Men's Club, and enjoyed family gatherings, sailing, classical music and reading of history. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Bruce Crabtree, and his oldest son, Bill Jr. He is survived by his wife, Martha; his children, Graham (Amy) Crabtree, Anna (John) Wallbillich and Bruce Crabtree; eight grandchildren, Elizabeth Crabtree Naida, James and Daniel Crabtree, John (J.J.) and Bruce Wallbillich, and Miles, Isabel and Caroline Crabtree; and four great grandchildren, Sam and Charlie Crabtree, and Eva and Vivian Wallbillich. A memorial service to celebrate Bill's life will be held in St. Luke's Memorial Chapel at Canterbury on the Lake, 5601 Hatchery Rd., Waterford, on Sunday, April 24, 2016, at 4:00 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Christ Church Cranbrook Pastoral Care Fund or Canterbury on the Lake's Pastoral Care or Good Samaritan Funds.