Dakota Crawford

Dakota Kade Crawford, 20, of Monahans, passed away suddenly on June 2, 2020, in Imperial after a tragic accident.

Dakota was born on March 28, 2000, in Odessa, to Patrick Crawford and Kristie (Lipham) Cummins.

Dakota lived in Monahans until the age of three, when the family moved to Odessa.

At the age of 10, Dakota and his family returned to Monahans —where he lived until his death.

Dakota attended Monahans schools and graduated from Monahans High School in 2018.

While in school, he was active in band, playing the tuba and drums, and football where he left his mark as a defensive right tackle from fourth grade until his junior year of high school.

During his sophomore year, Dakota enrolled in the welding class at Monahans High School where he soon found his passion.

After graduation, Dakota left Monahans for the big city of Houston to attend welding school and continue pursing his passion.

He enrolled in the Tulsa Welding School, in Houston, in June 2018 and then transferred to ArcLabs in January 2019.

After completing school, he returned to Monahans where he began working as a welder in the West Texas oilfield.

In late 2018, Dakota began talking to long time friend, Marissa Armendariz, and the two began dating on December 31, 2018.

The couple carried out a long distance relationship until Dakota’s return to Monahans in July 2019, but he made a point to come home to visit Marissa as often as he could.

The couple quickly fell in love and were even talking about marriage.

Dakota’s brothers could see how much he loved Marissa and told her, they had never seen him so happy.

Dakota had a heart of gold. He loved big and he loved hard — it didn’t matter who you were, what color your skin was, or what you believed. He played as hard as he loved.

He loved life and loved to make people laugh. Anyone who knew him, knew when they saw his crooked smirk and eyebrow raised, that he was up to something.

Dakota was spontaneous and impulsive and woke up everyday with a fresh start and new experiences. He lived life to the fullest such as swimming in an outside pool in the middle of winter and always helped out the ones who needed it the most.

He was willing to give anyone a hand —as long as it wasn’t in the morning. He always put his family and his friends needs before his own.

Growing up, Dakota loved to hunt, fish, play games on his PlayStation, back roading and getting stuck, exploring with his brothers, eating Whataburger or IHOP with the ‘Boiz’ at 2 a.m., and riding motorcycles. His family and friends will have one last ride for him.

Dakota absolutely LOVED the Great State of Texas, and HATED Oklahoma. He adored his dog, Taz (aka Steve) and the family cat, Bubbles.

Dakota will be loved and forever missed by all who knew him.

This following quote perfectly sums up how Dakota loved:

“The lesson I want you to learn is...it doesn’t matter what you look like. You can be tall, short or fat or thin or ugly or handsome like your father, or you can be black or yellow or white. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the size of your heart and the strength of your character.” Herman Munster.

#LoveLikeDakota

Dakota is preceded in death by great-grand parents, Lee and Lucille Sheppard, grandparents, Frank and Sandra Headley, uncle, Jimmie Crawford; aunt, Melissa Crawford; and cousins, Grant and Chase Crawford.

Those left to cherish his memory are his mother, Kristie Cummins and bonus dad Lewis of Monahans; father, Patrick Crawford of Odessa; brothers, Austin Morgan and sister-in-law Mandy of Fort Stockton, Austin Cummins of Beeville; Colton Cummins, Chanse Gaddis, Chaise Gaddis, and Christian Gaddis all of Monahans; one sister, Hailee Crawford of Monahans; grandparents, Diana Lipham and James Snider of Monahans; Lewis and Dolly Cummins of Bayside; girlfriend Marissa Armendariz; aunts, Jennifer Caylor (Scott) of California, Dawn Bush, Tonya Sowders, Barbara Stafford (Rex) all of Monahans, Stephanie Davis (Junior) of Wickett; Reba Bennett (Brian), Christi Thorpe, April Pierce (Kenny) and Danae Harper all of The Colony; LouAnn Anderson (TC) of Horseshoe Bay, and Cassandra Headley (Kyle Lane) of Broken Arrow, OK; uncles, Ben Cummins of Bayside, Mark Gaddis of Pyote, Steve Mullins (Martha), Carey Sheppard (Norma) all of Monahans, and Christopher Headley (Ashley) of Aztec, NM; nephew, Zaine Morgan and nieces, Aleenah Morgan and Lilah Morgan all of Fort Stockton, cousins, Tracey Ornelas (Richard), Kevin Crawford (Robin) and Kelcey Torrez (Ishmael) all of Monahans, as well as a whole host of other brothers and friends.

A celebration of Dakota’s life will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 12, at the First Baptist Church of Monahans officiated by youth pastor John-David Culbertson.

No viewing will be held, but visitors may stop by Harkey Funeral Home before the service to sign the guest book.

The family is requesting everyone who will be attending to wear bright colors to the celebration, because Dakota was never a big fan of dark colors.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Harkey Funeral Home.

Visit harkeyfunerals.com to sign the guest book or leave a personal note for the family.