5938981879.jpg &&& FORT WORTH — If anything grew bigger than the tomatoes that James Edward "Jim" Crow Sr. harvested at his home in Handley, it’s the fishing stories told by friends and family.Mr. Crow operated service stations for almost 50 years.He died Tuesday after having a stroke. He had lost a leg because of diabetes five years ago. He was 80. "Everyone on the east side of Fort Worth knew my dad," said Mike Crow, the youngest of Mr. Crow’s five children. "You could almost call him Mr. Handley."The Handley community is where Mr. Crow met Frances, his wife of 59 years. The couple lived there all their married life and were longtime members of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church.Mr. Crow was also active in the East Fort Worth Optimist Club and the North Fort Worth Historical Society. Born Dec. 3, 1927, in Whitehouse, Mr. Crow served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.Afterward, he became a mail carrier in Handley until he bought his first service station at Meadowbrook and Handley drives in 1957. Later he operated stations at Oakland Boulevard and Meadowbrook Drive, and Forest Park Boulevard and Park Hill Drive. His last station was again on Meadowbrook Drive.He retired in 2002. Mr. Crow pulled out the stops during the holidays, his children recalled."My parents’ house always looked like Chevy Chase’s house in Christmas Vacation," said Cindy McGuire, the eldest of the Crows’ children."Every year he’d say, 'This year is going to be the last time I do this,’ but it wasn’t." Mr. Crow’s tomato crop often filled the house, from the pool table to the dining table to the windowsills, his children said. The Crows shared their harvest with friends."He was probably at the most peace when he was building furniture or tending those roses," Mike Crow said.Then there was the fishing."He always had a knack for finding out which of his customers had stock tanks or fish ponds," Mike Crow said. "That’s the way he liked to fish."One fishing trip ended unexpectedly when a snake fell from a tree into the boat."My dad started shooting at it, filled the boat with holes, and it sank," said McGuire.Other survivors include his wife, Frances Crow; son Jim Crow Jr.; daughters Jan Crow and Tojo Escott; brother Bob Crow; sister Susie Rall; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Service 11 a.m. today at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church, 2301 Dottie Lynn Parkway in Fort Worth. Burial: Moore Memorial Park in Arlington