David K. Crapps was born to Porter Claude Crapps and Mary Elizabeth Parker on 29 June 1939. His mother died when he was very young. His father later remarried, and David was adopted by Virginia Birchfield Crapps, his beloved mother.
David was born in Gainesville, FL and was raised in Live Oak, FL. He was preceded in death by his father, Porter Claude Crapps, Jr.; his birth mother, Mary Elizabeth Parker Crapps; his adoptive mother Virginia Birchfield Crapps; brothers James, George, and Claude; and his adoring wife, Lee.
David graduated from Suwannee High School in 1957 where he was active in the Future Farmers of America and later became President of the Student Council. He received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 1962, With Honor, Co-op Plan, and a Masters of Sanitary Engineering degree in 1963 from Georgia Tech. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity while at Georgia Tech where he was chairman of the “Wreck” Committee for two years. His creation won the prestigious wreck competition while he was a student. He was a member of the Co-op Club and was elected to a number of honorary engineering societies at Georgia Tech including Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Chi Epsilon. He was president of Chi Epsilon his Senior year.
David was married to Lee Y. Crapps for over 48 years. They have a daughter, Katherine Hatcher married to Bobby; a son, Wally married to Betsy; and five grandchildren, Clay Hatcher, Kelly Hatcher, Katherine Crapps, David Crapps and John Crapps. David loved spending time with his grandchildren and was immensely proud of their accomplishments as young adults.
David served two years in the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service from 1963 to 1965. He then worked in heavy construction for several years where he became executive Vice President, and he was elected a Director of the Florida Road Builders. Following his work in construction, David used his Veterans Benefits, for his Ph.D. studies in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Florida from 1973 to 1977.
David provided Consulting services the rest of his career to other Consultants, other Consulting firms and Governmental agencies including the Florida Department of Transportation and the US Army Corps of Engineers. He was fortunate to be in responsible-charge of the geotechnical work on many major bridge projects including, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay, which held a world record span for concrete-segmental-cable-stayed bridges at the time it was constructed. He also trained others in the United States and foreign countries to inspect the foundations for several world-class structures.
David enjoyed challenging Projects. In his final years he played a key role, as a Consultant to Jones Edmunds and Associates, in a number of NASA Projects at the Kennedy Space Center including a Project to re-rock the Crawlerways, Shoe Tests which investigated several possible gravels for the Crawlerways, an earth-pressure cell study to investigate the distribution of loads beneath the Crawler, as well as the Conditioning Program for the Crawlerways to accommodate heavier loads required to later return to the Moon and travel to Mars.
David enjoyed every aspect of engineering from the intellectual satisfaction of solving complex problems and equations to the beautiful transformational solution resulting therefrom to the ultimate landmark enjoyed by the community. David loved his work, colleagues, mentors, protegees, universities and the science and art of engineering.
David especially loved his family and was dutiful in all aspects of being a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, and grandson. David was at home in Florida, Maine and, of course, flying his plane to work and see family.
A funeral memorial service will be held on Sat Jan 28, 2023 at 12:30pm at Holy Faith Catholic Church 747 NW 43rd Street in Gainesville.
