Charlie Hisey Craig

Charlie Hisey Craig, 74 passed away Friday, January 12, 2024, with his family by his side. The family will have his memorial service on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at 10:30 AM at South Georgia Baptist Church, Bldg B in Amarillo, TX. Services will be led by Mike Martindale & Karen Wells.

Charlie was born on November 8, 1949, to the late Olen Ward Craig, Sr and Audrey Otella Toler Craig in Ft Sumner, New Mexico. He was named after his grandfather Charlie Hisey Craig. He moved with his family to Amarillo, Texas in 1962. He attended schools in Amarillo and graduated from Tascosa High School in 1969. In January of 1970, Charlie married Sherrill Jane Weatherbee and they were married for 30 years and had three children, Monty, Kathleen, and Brenda.

Charlie coached his kids in track, football, softball, and baseball. He became the Kid’s Inc Round-Up Director for the North Side of Amarillo and even coached baseball for Alamo Catholic High School. He made sure kids of all ages had teams to play on and those teams had a coach to coach them. When he coached us in track, he would whistle when we ran, if he thought we had more to give to the team. For many years Charlie and Sherrill ran the Bus Ministry & picked up kids in the neighborhood and brought them to church at San Jacinto Baptist Church, Hillcrest Baptist Church, and South Georgia Baptist Church, as well as taught Sunday School at all three. For years he would run into grown adults who remembered him shaving off half of his mustache in church for filling up the whole bus & him driving them to church as children, where they learned God loved them and Jesus died for them. He was part of Continuing Witness Training at Hillcrest Baptist Church and would visit families that visited the church. He will be missed and his passing leaves a hole in the world.

Charlie enjoyed his children and grandchildren, throughout their lives. He would perform tricks for them. His famous Dun-Da-Dun taught some of his grandchildren to walk. If you could stand, you could walk, is what he’d always say. Some of his happiest days were when he got his Radio Flyer Red Wagon as a child and as Papa Charlie. He built countless forts in the dirt, made tree swings, and walked miles pulling a wagon for his children and grandchildren.

Professionally, Charlie was a master journeyman painter. After high school,

Charlie attended the Apprenticeship Program for Painters Local Union in Amarillo and graduated in 1974. He owned and operated a commercial paint subcontracting company throughout his professional career and painted some of the most iconic business signs throughout Amarillo. After closing his company in the early 90s, he was a Stucco & Masonry estimator for Buccola Masonry and took part in building grocery stores, schools, and hospital additions all over Amarillo. After 25 years, he left the construction business to drive a truck. He retired in 2015. Charlie had driven millions of miles across America delivering the necessities to Americans.

Charlie leaves not only family, but also dear friends and neighbors who will mourn his passing, but also celebrate that they got a chance to be friends.

Charlie is preceded in death by his parents Olen and Audrey Craig, and his brothers Olen Ward Craig, Jr (Jack) and Euguene Craig. He is survived by his sister Irene (Betty) and husband Mike Phillips of Amarillo; his sister Sharon Lewellyn of Amarillo; his brother Donnie Craig of Amarillo; his three children and their spouses, Monty Craig and his wife Amy, Kathleen Mitchell and husband Jim and Brenda Simmons and husband Cody; his grandchildren Katie, Jacob, Justin, Aydin, Tucker, and Tate.