‘The Lord was with me’: 99-year-old WWII vet survives storm in houseboat

LAKE O’ THE PINES, Texas (KLTV/Gray News) — A World War II veteran was left unharmed as he waited out a storm in his houseboat at a Texas marina.

Donald Crain has lived at the Bullfrog Marina on Lake O’ the Pines for nearly 35 years.

The 99-year-old served as a corporal in the Army in 1945 and was deployed to the Philippines at the end of World War II. He first came to Lake O’ the Pines on vacation in the 1970s and eventually retired there.

“You could give me the best house upon the hill, I wouldn’t take it. I’d stay in my houseboat,” Crain said.

Crain was inside his houseboat Sunday when high winds dismantled the marina around him. The storm tore through the boat dock, leaving the exterior dock in shambles.

“The Lord was with me. Just went somewhere else. Otherwise, I’d been gone, you know, like the marina you see over here,” Crain said.

Marina manager Cissy Johnson said Crain is the marina’s watchdog and the only person allowed to permanently live on the lake.

“He keeps a watch on everything that goes on here. People in and out, he knows what’s going on. He’s weathered plenty of storms on the lake,” Johnson said.

One of those storms was the historic winter storm of 2021, during which the weight of snow on the dock’s roof had pushed the walkway underwater. Workers swept the snow off the top of Crain’s home, and he emerged unharmed, just like this time.

“He takes care of us. We take care of him, and he takes care of us,” Johnson said.

Crain said he has no plans to leave.

“As long as I live, I hope to be right here. At 99, you know, tomorrow might be the last day, or I might be 105. You never know,” Crain said.

Crain will turn 100 on Dec. 31. He said he plans to celebrate quietly on the lake.