10/02/2026
Walking back to my car on Monday, I immediately spotted a bright penny on the ground that I swore wasn’t there when I walked away from my car minutes earlier. With the news of Vern Criswell’s passing fresh in my mind from hearing about it two days before and having always believed a penny in my path to be a sign from the great beyond, I pointed it out to my child and asked him to check the year as he picked it up-“2010,” he announced as I sighed.
I met Vernie Criswell the way most people do: when someone else didn’t do a job right the first time. Paul and I had just purchased our first home on Lake Freeman and when I asked relatives (Judy & John O’Neil) for recommendations for the never-ending repairs that were popping up, Vern’s name came to mind without a moment’s hesitation and the solid review: “He’s your guy!”
Like so many others, I can follow the timeline of our nearly 20-year relationship with Vernie through my checkbook, every entry now bringing a smile to my face as I recall each project starting with a frantic call that received a calming “We’ll get a look at ‘er” response from Vernie every.single.time. It didn’t take long for me to learn that Vernie’s promised “look” was all I needed to hear to know we’d be taken care of.
Eventually, Vernie vowed to get a look at a project that I had thrown more band aids on than I could even count. Freeman Bay’s roof and siding had an embarrassing number of “quick fix” layers piled on em and could no longer withhold the weight of another, so I knew it was time to rebuild. Vernie’s traditional building style clashed with my inability to visualize ideas unless they were drawn to a T on a piece of paper, but just like every project I called him for before, Vernie was our guy and the result was beyond what I could have ever imagined.
The projects that came in the years that followed were luckily never quite as big as Freeman Bay’s building and although we definitely begged for his promised look at our projects well past Vernie’s point of retirement, he was always there to talk Paul through a project and give him the confidence to attempt things on his own (or show up last minute when Paul called to report the project had taken an unexpected turn).
Beyond all the projects though, Vernie returned many times just to visit, as he and Vicki often did during our annual fundraiser, the most recent one just a few months ago. Each visit brought laughter as Vernie recounted the various runs he had participated in since we last visited (despite any of his injuries), always proud to tell he was outrunning those much younger than himself… a fact that always gave us the feeling he was truly invincible.
As my son handed me the 2010 penny that had appeared along our path on Monday, I was so proud to tell him about Vernie, who had agreed in 2010 to take on a project I had only dreamed about for so many years. Vernie had marked the completion of Freeman Bay’s building by acknowledging our shared sarcastic humor when he handed me a jar bearing the words “Ashes of Problem Customers.” Having worked with Vernie on so many projects and gotten to know him and Vicki so well through this one, the jar that still sits on our counter for every customer to see is a daily reminder of the person Vernie was to me. While always providing laughter, Vernie also never hesitated to hear my vision and stood up for me to those who wouldn’t, which in turn gained me the respect that was often hard to find in those early years of running my business. Vernie’s presence will be felt every time I open the door to the building I dreamt about and he made happen… and he will of course be missed every single time one of our projects takes the inevitable, unexpected turn.
https://www.clapperfuneralservices.com/obituary/vernie-criswell
