Jeffrey Scott Crites

This AMAZING man was born to Lloyd Morris Crites and Ida JoAnn Stacy in McMinnville, Oregon. He grew up alternatively in both Amity and Jefferson. He spoke fondly of the weekends with his father, with brothers Jake and Jeremy, fishing on the Umqua River. He worked with his step-father and mother at the family businesses, the Snappy Freeze restaurant and at Rick’s Market in Jefferson. Jeffrey was such a hard worker, even as a kid and everyone said so.

After graduation, Jeffrey joined the United Stares Navy. He served for 5 years, and in many different countries during Desert Shield/ Desert Storm. He was so proud to be a part of protecting his country as an aviation electrician.

When he came back, he started in the automotive industry and boy, did he love that! Jeffrey had a way about him that made him a natural! He was a charismatic and outgoing man already, but this really showed his true colors. He could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves! He quickly rose to management and stayed in this business for many many years. He was so loyal and so honest. He was so funny and so clever. He was so handsome and so smart. The list can go on and on, as you all know.
On February 14, 2010, Jeffrey and Kamen were joined at the lips, because they were already joined at the hips. Their children were combined as well to make a big, beautiful family of five. They would make jokes about being the Brady bunch, but really they were the Crites bunch. It was a match made in heaven for all of them.

Tragedy struck in 2016, when Jeffrey was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and it was already stage 3. For personal reasons of Jeffrey’s, he did not tell everyone including his side of the family. We fought this with him,just us. It never went away and he ended up having a total of 5 different kinds of chemotherapy, 1 round of 6 weeks of radiation, 3 surgeries and a whole lot of being sick. The oncologist told him “ Jeff, we are going to take you to the brink of death, and then bring you back.” The nurses would call him ‘Superman” because Jeff never missed one day of work, not unless he was actually admitted to the hospital. Not one day! Who can say that? No one I bet! In August 2019, we found out it had metastasized to his lungs and actually the left lung collapsed completely. In December 2019, we found out, it went to his brain, and he decided hospice was best. He did not want to die in the hospital and his final wishes were made clear to me. We talked about this for many hours, just him and me, in front of a fire, in the final days. I’m so grateful I got this time with him. Just him and me. I’m so glad I got to care for him. It was an honor.

Jeffrey is survived by his loving wife, Kamen, his sons, Cameron, Conner and Joey, his brothers, Tony and his wife Beth, Mike and his wife Shelley, Jake and his wife Lori, his sisters, DeDe and her husband Mark , Sherrie and her husband Russ, nephews; Jeremy Jr., Ryan, Sean, Kaden, Kaleb, Justin, Gavin, Zach, Joshua, Matthew , nieces; Cassidy, Chelby , Uncle David and his wife Anne, their children Amanda and Ian, Bill Crites, Jerry Crites, his mother and step dad- Ida JoAnn and Rick DeBus. Preceding him in death is his father, Lloyd Morris Crites “Jake” , Grandma and Grandpa Crites and Grandma and Grandpa Stacy, Uncle Delton Crites, his brother Jeremy Crites and his wife Carrie.

Celebration of Life for Jeffrey will be on January 4, 2019 at 1:00 pm at Salem Heights Church.