In July 1996, my father told me that Crate was crippled 
after a fight with Mary to see who was the boss.  This was 
the story...

Mary was German born, and after they got married, she 
determined that she and "Crate" would have to have a 
fight to to determine who would be "Boss",
or in other words, who would "wear the pants in the 
family".  She kept after him to fight, so this could be
determined.  One day he decided he had had enough, and 
simply walked away from her during one of her tirades
about having a fight.  As he went out the front door
and down the walkway, she came after him with a broom. 
Seeing that she was not going to give up without a fight,
he bent down, picked up a rock, turned to throw it at her.
She must have realized that he was serious and meant to 
hit her with the rock, for she turned and the rock hit
her between the shoulder blades, knocking the breath
out of her.  This ended the discussion about who was
going to be "Boss", for later she told everyone,
"Cratie's the boss, he like to kilt me!"

Now, I don't see anything in this story about what 
happened to him, that caused him to be crippled, but,
that's another story.