125 Years of Family Serving Family – Jeff Craven, Real Estate Directorate, HQ
Jeff Craven
One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family
Jeff Craven, who started his 32nd year at the Exchange in June, epitomizes the core value family serving family. Four generations of Cravens, dating back to his great-grandfather in the mid-1940s, have served military families.
“To me, family serving family is literal,” said Craven, senior market research analyst in the Real Estate Directorate at headquarters. “The Exchange’s mission of serving those who serve has resonated with my family for years and is very important to us.”
Craven’s family tree began taking root in the Exchange when great-grandfather Owen managed
Fort Leonard Wood’s troop store from 1944 to 1950. Grandfather William put in a quarter-century as Fort Leonard Wood’s service station manager from 1950 to 1975. Grandmother Irene worked the troop store’s cash register in the mid-1940s.
Craven’s father, Ron, the Exchange’s 1992 truck driver of the year.
Jeff’s father, Ronald, the 1992 Driver of the Year, drove tractor-trailer trucks for the Exchange for 36 years, out of the Waco Distribution Center and Fort Leonard Wood from 1964 to 2000. From 1990 to 2005, mother Sandra worked as a HR assistant at Fort Leonard Wood.
Jeff began with the Exchange as a mechanic at Fort Leonard Wood, with assignments in Japan, Guam and Okinawa before landing in 2011 at the Dallas HQ.
“It has been great to see the Exchange transition over the years,” Jeff said. “Over the years I have seen the environment in which the Exchange operates change and seen many other changes, from logos to goods and services, but the mission of serving military members and their families has been a constant.”
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Four generations of Jeff Craven’s family have served America’s warfighters and their families. His great-grandfather got everything started in the mid-1940s at Fort Leonard Wood. Read more: https://wp.me/p7iUVQ-45Z
Great-grandfather Owen Craven worked at the post exchange at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., starting in the mid-1940s.
What a lovely story! Thank you so much for sharing. It’s an honor to work for our company, and stories like this bring us all closer together!
Stephanie:
Thank you for writing to your Exchange Post. I’m amazed at how many people at the Exchange have generations of family members who were working for us, going all the way back to World War II. Amazing.
Steve Smith
Editor, Exchange Post