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Discover Smith Mountain Lake
SUMMER 2016
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f you don’t recognize Slim and Jane Crawford, then
you probably aren’t from around here, and you don’t
know much about Smith Mountain Lake or Franklin
County. If you haven’t seen them in a local restaurant, then
you don’t eat out much.
They’re both weathered, and well over 60. He is tall and
imposing with dark, sad eyes, and he’s not slim anymore. She
is more of a sidekick then a traditional wife.They seem to have
developed a bond that only a lifetime of marriage or sharing
a foxhole can create. She’s petite, but you know instinctively
she’s as tough as beef jerky... someone you want on your side.
You’ll likely hear the squawking and clanging of wireless
devices hung from their trouser belts before you see them,
and they’ll be driving a vehicle designed to pull or push
or save - one with an irritating beep when it’s backing up.
And, they’ll each be wearing at least one article of clothing
promoting John Deere.
Once you see them and take them in, you have to ask yourself,
“How did they miss casting these two in Lake Effects?”That’s the
most recent movie that was filmed here at Smith Mountain Lake.
This is for sure: The Crawfords are firmly embedded in the
history of Smith Mountain Lake.
Slim, legally V T, (he refuses to disclose his full first name)
and Jane started the Scruggs Fire Company. They were also
responsible for building the fire station and acquiring the
engines that are in use there today.
“Before the fire company was started,” Slim says, “Everyone
in Scruggs had to depend on Rocky Mount or Glade Hill
fire companies.” The drive-time from those two locations,
even with sirens blaring and the gas pedal to the floor, gave
the flames a tremendous head start. Chances were that the
building would be a total loss by the time the fire engines
showed up.
Then, in 1964, a fireman out of Glade Hill was killed in a
motor vehicle accident while responding to a fire in Scruggs.
Shortly after that tragedy, a house “up the road” from the
Crawfords’ home burned to the ground for lack of water.
That was when the couple decided that Scruggs was getting
its own fire station, period. These two care about the safety
of their community.
Slim helped found the Burnt Chimney Fire Department in
1972, and soon after it was chartered, he started the Scruggs
Division, which is part of Burnt Chimney. In 1973 he became
chief, and served in that capacity for well over 40 years,
retiring in 2014. Jane, who was no doubt the first female fire
fighter in this area, joined the fire company a short time later,
and is still Captain. They both continue to go on calls, and
remain active supporters of the local fire company, which is
all volunteers.
Of course, a fire company needs a rescue team, so the
Crawfords started the Scruggs Rescue Squad in the mid-
1980s. Jane, a former diver, was the force behind organizing
Smith Mountain Lake’s first body-recovery dive team in 1988.
She is also a certified EMT, and a former school teacher.
That’s just the beginning of their story. Jane was the first
woman to serve on the Franklin County Board of Supervisors
(1980 to 1984); they own and operate an excavating
The
Crawfords
