Eighty year old John Crockett probably died Christmas afternoon at his home near Rheber. He was found early in the morning after Christmas, but had undoubtedly died peacefully some time the day before. Living by himself in one of the oldest houses in the county, as he has most of his life, death came to one of the most outstanding characters and individualists the county has known. He was alone on Christmas day, but sometime around noon Mrs. Mollie Brown brought him a festive dinner. He was discovered the following morning by Eddie Combs and another man. Coroner George Edwards and a jury pronounced him dead from an unknown cause. He had been ill for the last year. About six months ago his old hunting friend, Sen. E. C. Moore, packed him up from his home where he was very ill and brought him to the Casey County Hospital. In true character he demanded buttermilk, cornbread, and bacon and turned thumbs down on the thinner hospital diet. He recovered fast, and even got to the point where he no longer requested to smoke while under an oxygen tent. He was a mixture of an iconoclast and civic-minded citizen. He never gave up plugging for the black-topping of Crockett Trail while he was alive. The road was named in his honor by the State Highway Department after he had used both persuasion and poker parties to promote its end. It is one of the best graded roads, with fewer curves, than any other stretch of road in the county. When he was younger he was known as a bird dog trainer. One female in particular responded to intelligent training. Among her tricks was to be ordered into the house while guests were on the outside to bring out the “Saturday Evening Post”. A copy, of course, was left at a convenient place for the dog to find. She always came out with the latest edition. As Mr. John well knew, it was first class entertainment. He was born about a mile from Rheber in the general direction of Creston. He was the son of William and Rebecca Anderson Crockett. His father was a cousin to the well-known Davy Crockett of the history books. The family came to Casey County from Jamestown, Tenn., immediately after the Civil War. His birthday was either February 25 or 28, 1871. He gave it both ways to the Old Age Pension office in Liberty. Once he was married for a matter of a couple of months to Lela White some 20 years ago. He is survived by Mrs. Theo Walden of Liberty, Jim Crockett of Louisville, and Mrs. G. W. Hughes of Wess. He had three other well known brothers, now dead, in Grant, Dock, and Bob. Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon at the Salem Church and internment was at the same place.