Stephen Floyd Craft

In the early morning of August 1st, 2021, Stephen Floyd Craft passed away peacefully,
surrounded by family, at his daughter’s home in Boise, Idaho, following a brief but intense battle
with esophageal cancer. He was 76.
Stephen was born on October 27, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio to Floyd Franklin and June Elouise
(Shockey) Craft. He graduated from Heidelberg University in 1966, and began a career in
teaching shortly afterward. The majority of his career was spent at Marysville Pilchuck High
School in Marysville, Washington where he taught special education, marine biology, and
coached baseball. He was awarded the Washington State Special Needs Educator of the year
for the 1978-79 school year. This award was the result of Stephen’s extensive program
development for junior and senior high students in special education programs. His eldest
children remember him not being able to go anywhere in Marysville without one of his current,
or former, students hailing him with a “Hey Mr. Craft!” and sometimes holding him up for hours
from an errand in conversation.
Memories of Stephen are as varied as the people who knew him, but certain aspects of his
personality remain constant; He is universally remembered as a hard worker, an exceptional
teacher with a charismatic sense of humor, and a man who considered his family to be his
greatest accomplishment. He enjoyed Robert Ludlum novels, gangster films, all animals, Seattle
Mariners games, and joking around with his family. His ever evolving religious beliefs remained
important to him throughout his entire life.
Stephen is survived by his eight children, Ethan, Meghan, Melissa, Hannah, Christian, Jesse,
Seth and Benjamin Craft, three grandchildren, Grant, Aidan and Harris Brown, and one
brother,George (Eileen) Ray. He will be interred at Morris Hill cemetery in Boise Idaho.