John Philip Criswell, Jr.'s Obituary
JOHN CRISWELL, Jr. North Texas’ multi-award winning news anchor and reporter, passed away
Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at his home in Carrollton, Texas. He was 10 days shy of his 84th
birthday. John is survived by his 4 daughters: Karen Drennan, Kendra Branden, Katy Criswell
and Julie Govan. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. His
favorite pastime was sharing adventures with his family. He was preceded in death by the ‘love
of his life’, Elizabeth, who with him founded the Deaf Action Center in Dallas, a crisis
intervention center for the Deaf and Deaf Blind..
Throughout a more than 40 year broadcast journalism career, Criswell worked in Washington,
DC. as an ABC News White House correspondent and at WMAL-TV in D.C as a reporter and
news broadcast anchor. In North Texas, his career continued to flourish at WFAA-TV where he
worked for more than 20 years while gaining accolades and notoriety with his weekly enterprise,
Wednesday's Child, in which he helped find loving homes for over 3,000 hard-to-adopt children.
Before retiring from the news business in 1999, Criswell worked in the newsrooms of KTVT-TV
in Fort Worth, KDFW-TV and KTXD-TV, both in Dallas.
Criswell was also no stranger in radio broadcasting and voice-over artistry. Most recently, he
hosted The Texas Business Update on KLIF 570 am and was the voice of Manufacturing
Marvels on The Fox Business Network for 13 years. More than 2,300 companies nationwide
have enjoyed John's warm, trusting, midwestern style in narration of their videos.
John was an avid member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano and a dog lover who shared
his home with 3 loveable, cuddly, furbabies. Criswell was also a pilot who once built an airplane
by himself in his garage. He later took his first skydive on his 80th birthday. John Criswell was
a man of integrity and conviction who never met a stranger and will be deeply missed by his
family, friends and thousands of television and radio listeners in the North Texas community.
The family will be holding a private Celebration of Life.
What’s your fondest memory of John?
What’s a lesson you learned from John?
Share a story where John's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with John you’ll never forget.
How did John make you smile?