Craig Winfield Warnock, our amazing husband and father passed away at age 82 surrounded by his loving family on October 18th, 2019 after a short and bravely fought battle with follicular lymphoma.
Craig was born on April 11th, 1937 to Mildred Barbara Cameron and Lyman Winfield Warnock in Oregon City, Oregon. The youngest of three brothers, he grew up in Milwaukie, Oregon on his parent’s small dairy farm on Warnock Lane. As a kid, Craig followed his brothers into the newspaper delivery business and also worked for the chicken farmer down the road where, as a sixteen-year-old, he was trusted to drive the farmers daughters to their horse shows. He bought his first car, a 1940 Ford, for fifty bucks. He attended Concord Elementary School and graduated from Milwaukie High School. Craig went on to attend Lewis and Clark College majoring in transportation and spent five years with the Oregon Air National Guard.
Set up by mutual friends, Craig met Constance Ruth Oliver and they were married March 15th, 1963. They welcomed daughter Lacy in 1965 and in 1970 son Christopher was Craig’s 33rd birthday present! During this time, Craig worked first for Garrett Freight Lines and then for Ross Island Sand & Gravel, which began a long career in the concrete industry. He went on to dispatch for, manage and eventually own Troutdale Sand & Gravel. In 1988 an opportunity to purchase and develop an industrial property in Sandy was offered to him and not long after, his entrepreneurial spirit and love of construction led him to start Web Steel Buildings. After living in the Portland area, Brightwood and Milwaukie - Craig and Connie made Sandy, Oregon their home in 1992.
Craig loved classic cars and enjoyed many over the years. He and Connie loved to travel and made several cross-country trips in their motorhome always antiquing along the way. He loved the Oregon coast and enjoyed many trips to Victoria, Canada over the years which was where he and Connie honeymooned. For many years a vacation home in Palm Springs provided much needed time away from the winter cold and wet of the northwest. A Portland Trail Blazers fan since the beginning, Craig and his childhood friend Bill Workman shared season tickets for decades until Bill passed away. Since that time, Chris, Lacy and other friends and family have enjoyed accompanying Dad to games with his dear friend and business associate, John Meyer sitting in the seat next to us. Perhaps his biggest hobby was work. He never really retired and still enjoyed coming to the office almost every day. Whether he helped Chris with a project, mowed the lawn or just took one of us to lunch – he enjoyed being around the activity in the industrial park and mini storage. Craig always took an interest in the industrial park tenants and their businesses. He loved to bring businesses together if he saw an opportunity where one could help the other. He loved to see businesses succeed. He admired hard work.
Craig is survived by his wife Connie, daughter Lacy (Jacques) and son Chris, his brothers Jim (June) and Bruce (Kathy) and several nieces and nephews.