David Atlee Crance, Sr. of Aquasco, Maryland died in peace at his home on Whippoorwill Hollow Farms on Saturday, December 19, 2009 after a lengthy illness. His wife and best friend for over 42 years, Hallie Jane Young Crance, was always at his side.

He was born on June 13, 1941 to James Atlee Crance and Ettie Lee Carper Crance of Amherst County, Virginia, where he resided until 1960 at which time he moved to Prince Georges County, Maryland.

In addition to his wife Hallie Jane, Mr. Crance is survived by his son David Atlee Crance Jr. of Falls Church, Virginia and his daughter-in-law Suman, and by his daughter Laura Lee Crance Coates and son-in-law Michael David Coates of Aquasco, Maryland.

He was predeceased by his younger and beloved son, James Walter Crance. He is survived by his sisters Dorothy Ann Crance Shaffer of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Gloria Lee Crance Doster of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He was predeceased by his sister Betty Lou Crance.

He is survived by his beloved grandchildren Nicholas Atlee Crance, Savannah Lee Crance, Haley Danielle Crance, Breanna Elizabeth Coates, and Sean Michael Coates and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws and family friends.

Mr. Crance retired from the Maryland State Police in 1974. He served as Chief of Police for the town of North Beach, Maryland from 1974 to 1976. He was the owner of a small business, Crance Investigations, for more than 20 years. He was an active participant in his community, and took great pleasure in being a loyal servant of his church, where he especially enjoyed frying oysters at the many church dinner fundraisers. For over ten years he was a baseball coach for the Baden Aquasco Little League through which he served as a mentor to the local youth by giving his time, energy, and example by assisting with projects such as building new dugouts for all the teams to utilize. He was of the belief that mankind should be a good steward of the land, and participated in many land and forest conservation efforts. He was an avid hunter and fisherman, and enjoyed gardening and farming on the family farms at Whippoorwill Hollow.

Dave and Hallie Jane both loved to travel and explore, and traveled the entire country from coast to coast, and were often joined by best friends, Buddy and Shirley Boswell. Later in life he was introduced to the world of internet technology and spent many hours conducting research, surfing the net, and emailing and responding to many friends, relatives and acquaintances across the nation.

The Crance family will receive family and friends on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at Brinsfield-Echols Funeral Home in Charlotte Hall, Maryland from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Reverend Harry Harper will hold a celebration of his life on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at St. Mary's Episcopal Chapel located at 22200 Aquasco Road in Aquasco, Maryland, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Pall bearers will be David Atlee Crance, Jr., Nicholas Atlee Crance, Michael David Coates, Robert "Buddy" Boswell, Alan Wayne Dunivant and Ricky Lee Shaffer.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Parish at 13500 Baden Westwood Road, Brandywine, Maryland 20613.

Arrangements provided by Brinsfield Funeral Home.