Longtime Member Goes Home

"Never Give Up" is the title of Hubert Crawford's article in the book of 293 personal testimonies Alleluia published in 1998. Even in his death Monday, Dec. 2, Hubert "never gave up," but saw it as another step in the eternal adventure to which he had been called.

Born near McBean, Georgia, in 1920, Hubert began his "Never Give Up" life two months premature but his life was given a chance by the "first incubator in Richmond County." He lived until his death on land he described as "too poor to grow weeds," in a house built in 1835. In 1943, during World War II, he trained as a Navy aviator, and took the most dangerous assign ments he could find. According to an article in the Dove a couple of years ago to honor him on his eightieth birthday, writer Bill Norton gives this account of "Never-Give-Up Lt. Crawford":


...The woods were full of pilots so he transferred to anti-submarine warfare, where one day he spotted an announcement on the bulletin board. It said: "Wanted: volunteers for extra hazardous duty involving swimming." Hubert couldn't swim more than 50 yards or so, but he signed up and found himself being trained for "underwater demolition" as a "frogman." At the end of the program, he was assigned the task of hand-picking his own team, which he would command. That team was dispatched to the Chinese coast, then occupied by the Japanese, to measure depths at high and low tide for a possible landing by Allied forces.

Later it was given the same task at Inchon, in Korea, also occupied by the Japanese at that time. Although the Allied invasion in Asia never materialized, Gen. Douglas MacArthur would later use the team's tide tables during the Korean war.



Raised a Southern Baptist, Hubert converted to Catholicism in 1953. In 1960, he entered the Glenmary Home Missionaries, remaining with them until illness forced him to leave in 1964. During a difficult period in his life which followed, Hubert solaced himself in alcohol. In response to a specific prayer God answered for him in 1975, the brother "dramatically" asked God, "What can I do for you?" The Lord told him, "Give up your enjoyment of alcohol." He did, and from that time forward, God sovereignly changed his life.

The next year, through a really different set of circumstances, Hubert was introduced to the Alleluia Community and went underway in December of 1976, signing Covenant in 1978.

Hubert opened his heart and his home to Alleluia. The property he lived on may have been described by him as "too poor to grow weeds," but it was rich in formation and fellowship as it became one of the experimental zones for the first "Boys' Summer Household" in 1981. He opened his home to an influx of "unknown proportions." No one will ever know who grew the most—the boys, or Hubert, but out of it came a bond of Christian love and fellowship which has blessed a lot of people for a lot of years. Hubert's home and land have always been a welcome respite to people of Alleluia. His blessing on Alleluia will continue long after his death as he donated 60 acres adjacent to his home to the Community. The Elders, according to Dennis McBride, are in prayer as to how the Lord would use this gift in our midst.

To the claim that he had a "fascinating" life, or a "charmed" life, Hubert would say simply that God was working all the time—He never gave up!