James F. "Frank" Craven, 95 of Odessa, Missouri died Saturday, August 18, 2018, at St. Luke's East Hospital in Lee's Summit.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday August 24, 2018 at the Odessa Restoration Branch, 6783 Hwy 131, Odessa, MO. Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Friday, August 24, 2018 at the church. Burial with military rites will be in the Odessa Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Odessa Restoration Branch. Condolences for the family and Memories of Frank may be left at
www.ralphojones.com or on our Facebook Page. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Ralph O. Jones Funeral Home, 306 S. 2nd St., Odessa, MO, 64076, 816-633-5524.
Born October 26, 1922, in Excelsior Springs, he was the son of Morgan Avander and Pansy (Collis Sperry) Craven. On February 24, 1946, he married Jessie Louise Kinnaman in Independence. An Army veteran of World War II, he served from January 5, 1942, to January 29, 1946, with the 739th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion in the South Pacific Theater where he was stationed in New Guinea and Negros, Panay, Mindanao, and Luzon, the Philippines.
He and his family moved to Odessa in 1957 where he farmed. He retired after 35 years as a dispatcher from the Independence Gas Service Company. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1971 and was a current member of the Odessa Restoration Branch.
Survivors include three daughters and a son, Cheryl (Alfred) Love, Overland Park, Kansas, Allen (Brenda) Craven, Athens, Tennessee, Loretta (Kent) Morton, Liberty, and Darla Craven, Odessa; six grandchildren, Amy Love Briscoe
(Brennan), Overland Park, Kansas, Lucas (Donna) Craven, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Micah Craven, Rayne, Louisiana, Trevor (Amanda) Tilton, Odessa, Frank Tilton, Kansas City, and Reed Morton, Marine Corps, Air Ground Combat Center, Twenty-nine Palms, California; and seven great-grandchildren, Kellen and Ian Briscoe, Tatum, Arlo, and Bodie Craven, and Hazel and Harris Tilton; brothers, Morgan Lee Craven, Wellington, Bryce Craven, Kansas City, Kress Craven, Independence, and Phillip Craven, Pleasant Hill; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, Frank was preceded in death by a brother Gerald Hugo Craven.