ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996 TAG: 9612060044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Anyone who knew Kenneth Crouch will tell you he cared deeply for Bedford County, but they may not know that more than a year after his death, he's still finding ways to contribute to the community he loved.
On Saturday, Bethesda, Md.-based Waverly Auctions will offer for sale the first batch of Crouch's mammoth collection of autographed photographs and books. According to his will, the proceeds will benefit the Bedford City-County Museum, where Crouch frequently volunteered, and his church, Quaker Baptist.
Crouch, a former weekly newspaper reporter, police dispatcher, amateur historian and one-time candidate for sheriff, spent countless dollars on books and postage, writing letters to and soliciting autographs from the greatest newsmakers of the 20th century. His pen pals included kings of three nations.
When he died in October 1995, he left behind a collection of 659 loose photographs, 658 books, 67 scrapbooks with 2,545 signed items such as photos and magazine covers, and thousands of letters.
Included in this sale are a cornucopia of treasures - from a hand-drawn Dick Tracy by cartoonist Chester Gould to autographed photos of everyone from John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King to Judy Garland, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges.
Crouch's collection will be auctioned alongside the estate of World War I poet Joyce Kilmer, best known for the poem "Trees."
"They're both fun collections," said the auction house's president, Dale Sorenson. Speaking of Crouch's items, he said, "Ordinarily we don't get this quantity and variety all from the same person, where you have Hollywood and heads of state and presidents and personalities of all sorts.''
As of Thursday, more than 100 bids had come in for Crouch's items from all over the United States, as well as England, Australia and Israel. The top items in this sale include a rare signed photo of golfer Robert Jones, which has a suggested starting-bid range of $600 to $900; a photo of Kennedy, $500 to $750; and King, also $500 to $750.
If all the items were to fetch their minimum suggested bids, the collection would earn Crouch's church and the museum more than $16,000.
"I was totally taken by surprise by the sheer volume of items Kenneth had" and their value, said the Bedford museum's director, Ellen Wandrei.
Wandrei said the museum will use the money from the auction, and others to be held over the next year or two, to add to an endowment fund created last year.
The auction items probably make up less than a quarter of Crouch's collection. A cousin who is administering his estate is still cataloging his prodigious letters, which will eventually be put on the auction block with other pieces, such as his copy of "Gone With the Wind" autographed by all the film's stars.
So far, Crouch's letters have yielded not only fascinating correspondence from celebrities, but also many insights into the Bedford County man's life and the many ways he helped others.
There are letters from the infamous - bank robber Willie Sutton, local double murderer Jens Soering, and Lt. William Calley of the My Lai Massacre - as well as the famous, including Frank Sinatra, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York.
In fact, in a 1951 letter, York not only told Crouch to visit and gave him directions to his farm, he also confided, "I am thinking of throwing my hat in the ring for President. If Harry don't run, I am just waiting to see."
But there's plenty of personal lore evident in the letters, too. There's one from a 104-year-old Confederate war veteran who signed a Confederate flag for Crouch, and there's another from the airman who dropped it over the North Pole at Crouch's request. It was his way of putting the South back over the North, a family member said.
He helped establish the Altar of Nations, a stone war memorial at the Rindge, N.H., Cathedral of the Pines, by soliciting stones from all over the world. Stone 71 in the baptismal font is his own contribution: a rock from the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County.
At home, Crouch worked on civic projects such as getting a memorial to World War II dead put on the courthouse lawn, starting the county museum, and getting Bedford's now famous Yellow Poplar Tree recognized as the biggest in the nation.
He was also instrumental in getting national awards for many local policemen and lifesavers, his friends and family said.
"Kenneth lived his life for others," said his close friend and former co-worker, Glen Garrett. When Garrett was a policeman in Bedford, he was wrongly suspended and his job was threatened. Crouch, he said, uncovered crucial evidence that cleared him in a department hearing.
"He was always one of those persons who was more concerned about others, no matter what."
If you are interested in bidding on the auction items from Kenneth Crouch's collection, call Waverly Auctions in Bethesda Maryland at (301)951-8883 before 3 p.m. Saturday.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 linesby CNB