Liam Crone

A celebratory visitation for Liam will be held Thursday, November 4, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, VA 22151. A funeral service will occur Saturday, November 6, 2021 from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 8800 Braddock Road, Annandale, VA 22003.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.demainefunerals.com for the CRONE family.

Liam Thomas Crone was born on February 28, 2000 in Corpus Christi, TX. The youngest of three children, Liam was healthy and perfect in every way at birth. At four months, the Crone family moved from Texas to Virginia Beach, VA. Liam spent the next two years getting many licks from the family dog, Scooter, who never failed to sleep under Liam's crib. Liam somehow learned to walk although Liam's favorite place to be was on mom's hip. Dad was stationed with PHIBRON 6 and deployed with USS Kearsarge. Liam loved being outside and playing on the swing set and in the sandbox that Dad built for the kids.

When Liam was two years old the family moved to Annapolis, MD. Liam spent one day a week making friends and making art at pre-school. At age three and four, Naval Academy Primary School was the place to be! Liam loved friends, books, and playing on the playground. Dad deployed again, but the rest of the family was happy with school and being in the closest place that could be called "home."

Just before kindergarten began, the family moved to Sasebo, Japan. This was a huge deal for Liam because mom agreed to buy Liam a GameBoy for the 26 hour trip around the globe. Dad returned from deployment and the family was reunited. There were amazing adventures in Japan! Liam loved the freedom of being in a safe community on base where a walk (unsupervised) over to a friend's house was not a problem. Liam was adventurous in everything, from eating sushi to sliding down a mountain on a roller slide. As a blonde, light eyed child, Liam was quite a celebrity in Japan. Every day, Japanese people would ask to have a picture taken with Liam! Who knows how many people have pictures of tiny Liam giving a peace sign with his two fingers! A trip to Sapporo Ice Festival was a highlight of Liam's time in Japan. Liam learned how to play soccer on a team and loved life to the fullest! Still, even as a kindergartner, Liam always preferred to be carried on Mom's hip. Just before the family left Japan, a huge trip to Oceandome (the world's largest indoor water park at the time) and Mount Aso with 20 of our closest friends that we lived with in Japan was one of the most fun vacations the family ever had!

As kindergarten was ending, the family tearfully left Japan along with all of the friends there, who are as close as family, and moved to Rhode Island. The family purchased a home but had to wait to move in after closing so a short term rental was home for a little while. Liam delighted in the "farm house" that was built in 1795 and had a long history of ghost activity. Years after moving out of the "farm house," Liam loved to talk about the ghosts, the yard, and the many fireplaces in the old house. The family moved into their home in Portsmouth, RI (right outside of Newport) and Liam went to Melville Elementary for first and second grade. A "ghost" followed the family who often knocked bread or bags of onions off the top of the refrigerator or made huge, unexplained noises in the basement. Liam loved it! Liam forged wonderful friendships and started in scouting, The family welcomed two beloved guinea pigs into the family, Checkers and Chalice. Liam played soccer and t-ball, spent hours on the wooden playground that was near the house, and made the most of the final years of his dog Scooter's life. Liam received First Holy Communion at St. Barnabas Catholic Church. Liam loved family trips to Boston. Many weekends were spent at the Boston Children's Museum or visiting Fenway Park. Liam became a lifelong Red Sox fan!

The summer between second and third grade found the family on the move again. Back to Virginia Beach, VA but in a new home. Dad was now the Captain of USS Ponce. Liam loved Kingston Elementary where friends were made and learning was fun. One of Liam's best friends in Kingston (Trey Rodman) ended up at Berklee too, and the two longtime friends reconnected. The family lived close enough to walk to school and the highlight of the day was walking home from school with the new dog, Pickles, on a leash. The home had a small inlet of the Lynnhaven river in the backyard and Liam spent hours on the dock over the water searching for snails, small fish, and other critters that delighted Liam. Baseball became a huge part of Liam's life. Playing and watching baseball and playing catch with Dad in the back yard occupied lots of Liam's time. Liam's favorite school year was fourth grade because of amazing friends, and a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Sager.

The family moved to Fairfax, VA in 2010. Liam spent fifth through eighth in Holy Spirit School where Mom was a teacher. It was difficult to break into a school where most children had been together since preschool but Liam finally made some lifelong friends. He struggled academically but had some excellent teachers who were more than willing to offer a bit of extra help and a smile. Liam was heavily involved on the basketball team at school. Little league baseball was a favorite past time. Liam's team won the district championship one year and Liam treasured that trophy. Liam's spare time was spent playing catch with Dad or throwing the ball against the back wall of the house to practice fielding. In 2013, the family went on a great trip to Disneyworld with Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Mike and cousins, Marcus and Ashley. The family got two new dogs, Ned and Loki. Loki and Liam were the very best of friends. Loki was Liam's constant companion. Liam dabbled in scouting and tai kwon do. Liam received the sacrament of Confirmation shortly before graduating from Holy Spirit School in eighth grade.

High School was a gift to Liam. Robinson Secondary School offered Liam a large group of activities and friends from which to choose. Liam became heavily involved in theatre. Performances in shows such as Cabaret, Putnam County Spelling Bee and Play in a Day kept Liam busy and social. Friendships came easily. Liam was still very involved in Little League before aging out. Liam was struggling with anxiety and depression and Grandmom came to live with the family to help out. Each day after school Grandmom and Liam would go out for a snack and she bought Liam a guitar since Liam showed an interest in music. Grandmom surely had dreams of teaching Liam how to play just like she did in high school. Liam then decided on a bass, and finally on a drum kit. Mom and Dad almost blew a gasket when they came home to the banging on that first day! Liam really took to the drums and practiced all the time. Liam's smile returned. Soon we were shuttling Liam to drum lessons on a weekly basis and the banging began to turn into music.

In 2016 Liam formed Commander Salamander with Claudio on guitar and vocals, later adding Fernando on bass. As a band they released 2 EPs, 2 singles, and a split EP with Origami Angel. They played shows regularly in the DC/Maryland/Virginia DIY music scene. The band embarked on many weekend and week-long tours around the east coast and Midwest US alongside bands like Origami Angel, Short Fictions, Jail Socks, and Morning Dew. Liam also drummed in local hardcore punk bands Plastic Taste and Holographic. Liam was a great friend and incredibly talented not only in playing drums, but in writing drums for every song. Liam will live on through the music they created together forever.

In July, 2017 Liam met a girl named Zia. The two fell in love and began a long distance relationship that October. They stayed together through high school and into college and enjoyed visiting each other often between school terms. Liam was always committed to bringing joy to those dearest to him, despite any physical distance. Zia was the love of Liam's life and the two carried on happily for nearly four years.

Liam graduated from Robinson High School in 2018. After taking a semester off, Liam attended Northern Virginia Community College, completing many of the core curriculum courses in preparation for a four-year university experience. Touring with the band continued and at the prompting of friends like Ryland Heagy and Ryan Veith, Liam applied to and was granted an audition for Berklee College of Music in the fall of 2019. The audition went very well with the exception of the sheet music reading portion since Liam had never played from sheet music; however, the Berklee team clearly believed they could teach Liam to read music, as they said that Liam was their favorite rock drummer they had seen in years. Less than a week later, Liam received an acceptance to Berklee as well as receiving the World Tour Scholarship from Berklee. Within a month of being accepted, Liam was packed and on the way to move into the dorm at Berklee for the January 2020 semester.

Six weeks after arriving at Berklee, COVID struck. Liam came home to Fairfax and began online learning. Although it was difficult to make music with others via an online platform, Liam became a master at mixing music and developed a love of creating original music and adding the live drum tracks. Liam persevered through 18 months of online learning.

Liam was so excited about returning to Berklee in person in the fall of 2021. Friends were made, classes were going very well, and Liam was making money playing in jazz clubs and as a stand in drummer in a couple of bands. Liam and a friend were talking about starting up a new band and there were some new songs in progress. Things were really looking up for Liam. Mom and Dad were looking at buying an apartment for Liam in Boston as the city was such a good fit that Liam did not have any interest in returning to Fairfax.

Liam facetimed with Mom and Dad every day while back at Berklee. There were many laughs and many fun stories shared about the new adventures in those days and weeks in Boston. Everything seemed as if it was going so well for Liam and life was coming together in a great way. However, Liam was still tortured by inner voices from his illness that continued to make Liam feel worthless. All the years of therapy, hospitals, ERs, medicine, psychiatrists, love, affirmation, and support were not as powerful as a decade of cruel inner voices. Liam died by suicide. Liam was so very strong for so very long. Mom and Dad are so proud of every single day that Liam was able to keep breathing even though life was so unfairly difficult.

So, please enjoy Liam's music in the joyful knowledge that Liam is no longer in pain.

A Memorial Scholarship has been set up in Liam's name. If you feel called to donate, visit: https://crowdfunding.berklee.edu/o/berklee-college-of-music/i/berklee-crowdfunding/s/liam-crone-memorial-scholarship

Liam is survived by parents, Tim and Tricia Crone, siblings, Ryan Crone of Annapolis, Lucy Crone of the home, and niece, Harper. Liam is also survived by all four grandparents; John and Rochelle Crone of Puyallup, WA, Fran Canavan of Davidsonville, MD, and Thomas Canavan of Syracuse, NY. Liam had loving aunts and uncles (Mike and Stephanie Crone, Erin and Sam Marks, Sean and Shelly Canavan, Robin and Monica Fiedler). Liam’s loving godparents were (Christina Houfek, Stephen Phillips, Bamby and Dan Bergeron.