James Craddock (Term of Office 1972 - 1975)
James Anderson Craddock, named after his grandfathers, was born August 25, 1937 in Long Branch, West Virginia to Cabell Carrey Craddock and Jocelynn Lena Spradling Craddock. He had a younger brother, Robert.
Jim describes growing up in a small community in the hollows of West Virginia as an ideal setting for a young boy. He was raised by his father and step-mother Mattie Bea. His grandparents had 13 children, so he was surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins. His earliest memories are of sitting on the family porch with cousins and his younger brother hearing bedtime stories his grandfather “General Lee Craddock” created about Indians and bears. It wasn’t until a family trip to New York and a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball game at Ebbets Field that he realized that there was another world outside of the family home in West Virginia.
After graduating from Pax High School in spring of 1956, Jim joined the United States Army and took his basic training at Ft. Eustis near Newport News, Virginia. He was later deployed to Ft. Lewis near Tacoma, Washington and during an 18-month period when he was stationed at Whittier, Alaska at the Army’s Military Supply Terminal, Jim developed many of the traffic and transportation skills and expertise he used in a later career. In 1959, at the rank of specialist, he received an honorable discharge from the Army.
Jim’s brother, Robert "Arnold", was living in Colorado and shared a brochure about an education program at what is now the Emily Griffith Technical College. Jim moved to Colorado, attended the school, and received an associate’s degree. Jim met his first Alsie “Snooks” Thompson, in 1961. They married on June 2 of that year and moved to Federal Heights where Snooks and her parents, Elizabeth and Bill Sammons had lived since 1948. Jim worked at Gates Rubber Company, IML-Freight Services, and Dow Chemical at Rocky Flats.
In May of 1965, Jim began work as an export clerk at one of the largest travel luggage manufacturers in the world, Samsonite. Jim credits his continued friendship with Bud Shwayder, one of the founders, with his numerous successes and his rise to Director of Distribution for Samsonite Worldwide. He retired from Samsonite in 1996 after 31½ years of service.
Snooks was very active in the Federal Heights Community, organizing fundraising events like bingo games and variety shows to raise money for Federal Heights when the well bond payments came due. She spearheaded benefits for the fire department’s medical van, the American Cancer Society and police officers wounded in the line of duty. She volunteered for many organizations and even ran for Mayor in 1979 because the incumbent was unopposed and she thought people should always have a choice in an election.
When Jim moved to Federal Heights in 1963, he joined the Volunteer Fire Department, and won election to the Sanitation District Board in 1964. He was elected to the Town Board in 1970. When Jim was asked why he decided to run for Mayor of Federal Heights in 1972, he said he was inspired by his wife who was very involved in the Federal Heights community.
Jim defeated two opponents in the 1972 election receiving 624 votes and becoming the 10th Mayor of Federal Heights. His opponents Bill Curphy and incumbent Ben Gordon received 189 and 136 votes respectively. Craddock was the first Mayor of Federal Heights to be elected to a four-year term. He called his first Town Board meeting to order on May 2, 1972. Present at that meeting were Town Board members, William L. Kennedy, Howard Anderson, Cecil Carstens, Mildred Earley, Jack Ziegler and Nellie B. Zimmerman.
During his first year in office he was instrumental in the passage (477 votes in favor – 69 votes opposed) of a one percent sales tax increase to pay for the widening and paving of 92nd Avenue from Pecos Street to Federal Boulevard. The project accommodated increased traffic generated by the growing populations in Holiday Hills and Kimberly Hills Mobile Home Parks. Pecos Street was extended from 84th Avenue to 92nd Avenue with earthwork, tree removal, installation of curbs and gutters and asphalt. In 1975, improvements were made on 96th Avenue in preparation for the construction of Federal Heights Elementary School. In March of that year he was elected chairman of the Adams County Council of Governments. The new Town Hall was completed in May, 1975.
Craddock resigned from his Mayor’s seat in November, 1975, citing a “political split” on the board. He made a successful bid for Town Trustee in 1976 and served four more years. In 1980, when Jim resigned from the Utility Commission, he had given nearly two decades of service to Federal Heights.
Jim and Alsie Craddock had two daughters, Melody Lynn and Maura Lee. Both attended District 50 schools. Jim and Snooks divorced in 1981. On June 26, 1982, Jim married Jeanne Ann Brafford who worked for Pan Am Airlines in the Denver area. Jeanne had a daughter, Kristi Lynn.
After Jim’s retirement, he worked as a marshal at Murphy Creek Golf Course, and he and his wife, Jeanne, became “Snowbirds” and spent winters in Tucson, Arizona investing in a Park Model RV and a Class II RV. Jeanne’s health declined and they moved back to Parker, Colorado. Jeanne passed away on November 17, 2017.
Throughout his life, Jim enjoyed many hobbies - golf, politics, and watching football and golf. He was an avid dog lover. In 2019, Jim moved into Sugar Valley Estates Senior Living in Loveland, near his daughter Maura's home. He passed away on September 11, 2022, leaving three daughters, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.