Carlton B. Crenshaw

March 18,1945 – May 26, 2026

On May 26, 2026, Carlton Boyd Crenshaw passed away with his wife at his side.

Carlton and Linda, his wife of the past 34 years, had the good fortune to meet in 1991. The love of his life, Linda, and Carlton lived in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia and for many years on Longboat Key, Florida as “snowbirds”. He loved to travel and spend time with their extended family. He was also an avid outdoors person and enjoyed walking, gardening and boating. They have 4 daughters, Collette Crenshaw, Christine Goetter, Catherine Floyd and stepdaughter Michelle Satterly. Linda and Carlton have 7 grandchildren including Jasmyn Maria Davila, Eliana Crenshaw-Gibbs, Ethan Crenshaw-Gibbs, Elisha Crenshaw-Gibbs, Collin Carlton Goetter, Sarah Elizabeth Floyd, and Henry Samuel Floyd.

Carlton had one sibling, Phil Crenshaw (deceased in 2026), who was married to the former Marilyn Rifkin. The couple have 2 sons, Todd and Brent Crenshaw.

He was born on March 18,1945 in Kansas City, Missouri to Sarah Elizabeth (Betty) Bloom Crenshaw and Clarence Albert (Al) Crenshaw. His mother Betty, born in 1910, was one of the earliest female pilots in the country. His father, Al, was born in 1898 and fought with the Marine Corps in World War I as a medical corpsman with the famous First Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Belleau Wood and Soissons among many other battles.

After graduating from high school in 1963 Carlton went to college in Dallas, Texas at Southern Methodist University and graduated with his bachelor’s in business administration after three years.

In April 1966 Carlton joined the Marine Corps and went through Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. He then attended The Basic School, USMC’s officer training school, for a 5-month training period and graduated with TBS Class 3-67. He then became a Marine artillery officer after attending 8 weeks of training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Like all of the other members of his Basic School class he was given orders to go to Vietnam following his training. He arrived in Vietnam (Con Thien) in late August 1967. Carlton was wounded by rocket shrapnel on September 10, 1967, but remained with the infantry battalion as a forward artillery officer for over 5 months. In mid-December the battalion was flown to Khe Sanh to become the battalion covering Hills 881 South and 861. This coincided with the commencement of the famous siege of Khe Sanh by 40,000 NVA who surrounded 5 Marine battalions there. This represented the single largest battle for the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and lasted 77 days. Carlton received his second wound on the fourteenth of February while on Hill 881 South as a 120-millimeter mortar round landed on top of Carlton’s command bunker.

Carlton received the Bronze Star, 2 Purple Hearts, 2 Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry with Silver Stars, 2 Presidential Unit Citations and the Combat Action Awards.

He sent in his application to attend NYU’s Graduate School of Business from his bunker at Khe Sanh and actually received his acceptance and a full scholarship, the Marcus Nadler award, before the siege was over.

He went to work at Sperry Corporation in New York City in the 1970’s. Carlton became the youngest officer in Sperry’s history and became Treasurer in 1979. In subsequent years he was involved in many acquisitions, financing, and global travel. The following 20 years he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for three corporations, Software AG, Orbital Sciences and Anteon. He retired in 2003 and devoted the rest of his life to “giving back” to the institutions that had been important in his life as well as focusing on the preservation of US military history. He was honored in 2003 by the Greater Washington DC/Virginia /Maryland Technology Council with the Hall of Fame award.

He became a Founder of the new National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico and was on the Board of the Marine Corps Association for 8 years where he served as the Chairman of the Audit Committees. He founded the Corporal Bradley T. Arms Marine Corps League detachment in Charlottesville, Virginia. For over a decade he and his Marine Corps League detachment were involved with the Marine Toys for Tots program and secured over 50,000 toys and books for underprivileged kids in the greater Charlottesville area. Carlton was the Chairman of his Basic School’s first reunion in 2011 and its 50th anniversary reunion in 2016. Carlton joined the Board of the Civil War Trust (CWT) in 2007 and spent 12 years on this board.

Carlton along with other Marines reached out to the Montegnards who had fought with the Marines in Vietnam and were persecuted after the Americans went home. He helped an orphanage for Montegnard children in Cambodia and funded for nearly a decade the education for the first physician and surgeon from this ethnic group. who is now helping his people. Carlton and his wife Linda were on the Cabinet of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for many years.

Carlton and his wife, Linda, were members of the Zion United Methodist Church in Troy, Virginia. Carlton grew up in the Methodist Church where his family lived in Kansas City, Missouri and attended the Central Methodist Church, close to Kansas City’s Plaza District.