Nelson Joseph Crocken Jr., 85, a resident of Pasadena since 1967 and formerly of Brooklyn since 1946, died of heart failure Nov. 12 at Anne Arundel Medical Center after a three-month illness.

Mr. Crocken was born May 16, 1922, and reared in Baltimore. He served in the Army during World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star medal.

He retired from the former Eastern Stainless Steel in Essex in 1984, where he was a foreman and machinist for nearly 40 years.

His interests included working on automobiles and family camping. He was a member of the Pasadena Assembly of God.

Surviving are his wife, Margaret Florence Butterworth Crocken, whom he married in 1940; two daughters, Gloria Dawn Zink of Baltimore and Linda Stanton of Pasadena; one son, Nelson Crocken of Pasadena; one sister, Helen Meushaw of Baltimore; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at Barranco and Sons Severna Park Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Highway, where services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Burial will follow in the Maryland Veterans Cemetery in Crownsville. Online condolences can be made to www.barrancofuneralhome.com.

As published in "The Capital Newspaper" Annapolis, MD, 11/14/2007