Sources & Information:
A commentary made: "I never saw Uncle Will dressed in anything except overalls until his funeral. He was killed by electricity - trying to move an electric line in the road after a storm."

BOOK # 4, LOCAL #2, SHIAWASSEE COUNTY. 3 January 1941, Died near home in Caledonia Township. William crane, married. Age 50 years, 11 months, 28 days. born 5 January 1890 in Shepard, Michigan. Son of William crane (U.S.A.) and Fannie Roberts (Lockport, N.Y.). A farmer. Accident--electrocuted by grasping a live wire. burial in Greenwood Cemetery, Vernon, Michigan.

OWOSSO ARGUS PRESS, Friday, January 3, 1941.

FATHER OF TEN ELECTROCUTED BY FALLEN WIRE. WILLIAM CRANE, 51, SHIAWASSEE TOWNSHIP, KILLED EARLY TODAY GETS 11,000 VOLTS PICKS UP POWER WIRE ENTANGLED WITH TRUCK AND DIES.

William Crane, 51 years old and father of ten children, was electrocuted early this morning while two of his children looked helplessly on, unable to aid him. He received 11,000 volts of electricity when he picked up a fallen wire of the Consumers Power Company, only a few rods from home.
Crane, and his two children, Robert, 24, and Ruth, 16, were driving into Owosso--the father and son to go to their work in the West Side Elevator and the daughter to visit some friends here. At the intersection of the South Washington Street road and the Town Line Road, four miles out of the city, the fallen wire became entangled with their truck.

KILLED INSTANTLY:
Young Crane said that his father got out and grabbed the wire, intending to throw it aside. Instead he was knocked over, and apparently died instantly. Crane rushed back to his home and called his mother, and when she arrived, he took a pole and pushed the wire off his father's body. They then brought him to Memorial Hospital but he was beyond help. The body was burned considerably by the electric current.
W. G. Cobb, manager of Consumers, said that he had been unable to ascertain just when the wire fell. He added that a farmer on the company's rural line out that way called in at 5 o'clock this morning and reported that he had no lights, and service men went out and put in new fuses and apparently remedied the trouble. The accident which cost Crane his life, happened, according to his children at about 7 o'clock, and about the same time some other farmers south of there called in said their power was off.
Mr. Cobb said that there was a high wind during the night, but that he didn't believe that this broke off the power wire, and that he had been unable to determine just how long it had been down but he didn't believe it was long.
Dr. G. L. Cramer, corner was called and decided that death was accidental and that no inquest was necessary.

Funeral Monday:
Funeral services will be held from Jennings-Lyons Chapel at 2:30 P.M. Monday. Reverend William Schlitts, pastor of the Methodist Church in Corunna will officiate, and burial will be made in Greenwood Cemetery at Vernon. The remains will be taken to the residence in Shiawassee Township Saturday where they will rest until 11:00 A.M. Monday.
Mr. Crane, father of ten children, eight of whom are living at home, was born in Shepherd, Michigan on January 5, 1890 and would have celebrated his 51st birthday anniversary Sunday. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs William Crane, Sr. At an early age, he was brought to the Durand area and lived there until ten years ago when he came to the Owosso vicinity. For the past sic years, he had lived in his present home on the Hayes Perrogo farm.
On October 5, 1910, he was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Ellsworth, of Durand. All his life until two months ago, his occupation had been farming. For the past two months, however, he had worked for the West Side Elevator.
The children surviving are Carl Crane, of Laingsburg; Mrs. Clayton Peters, also of Laingsburg; and Robert, Harold, William Jr., Edward, Ruth, Arnold, Lois, and Katherine. He also leaves five grandchildren, three brothers, seven sisters and his mother, the later of whom is Mrs William Crane of Durand. The sisters are Mrs. David Christ of Davison, Mrs John Frederick of Durand, Mrs. Lew Baker of Cadillac, Mrs. Jay Kelfer of Durand, Mrs Marcus O'Rourke of Gaylord, Mrs Christ Fisher of Flint, and Mrs Steven Sovey of Flushing.