It was Friday and Colleen McKillip was getting ready for the day she had been waiting on for the last 9 months. It was the day that her little family of 3 would become 4 in just a few hours. She was expecting a baby she knew it was a boy and she already had a name picked out. That's where the story starts to get interesting.
A few days earlier Colleen had ordered a baseball hat and shirt from an online store. In true nesting fashion the mom to be was checking the status of the order before she was otherwise disposed. The voice on the other end of the phone said the order was ready to be shipped and should be there on the promised date, that Friday. Colleen said "That will be great just as long as it gets here before the baby". The customer service person was puzzled since the order had just been placed the day before and why would the deliver date need to be there before the "baby"? Seemed strange so she pressed Colleen for the full story.
She was more than happy to oblige. Seems that Colleen, Ryan (her husband) and their daughter were eagerly awaiting their new baby. Colleen had asked her husband, like she had for their daughter, to help in coming up with a name. She would work on one also and together they would pick the best, and that would be the name.
Of course behind every good name there is always a good story. In this case there are 2.
Ryan McKillip is a crane operator by profession, and works for JP Cullen out of their Madison, Wisconsin office. Ryan took his "baby naming" assignment very seriously and found himself thinking of it all the time. One day at work he was operating a tower crane moving a prefab iron and brick chimney into place when he broke for lunch. He was lifting up a bucket with his site lunch in it and then he had to climb down to unhook the bucket. As he reached to retrieve his lunch he noticed the hook he was using was a Crosby SHUR-LOC Hook. That’s when the name came to him like a lighting bolt. But he wasn't ready to tell his wife, that would come later. That is story one.
Working for JP Cullen comes with some perks, one was that Ryan got to go to the ConExpo show in Las Vegas so Colleen decided to tag along. While visiting the show Colleen was thinking about the baby's new name and suddenly it came to her. It was there as big as a trade show booth. It would be a great name and go perfectly with their Irish heritage. She grabbed Ryan and told him she had the name. She pointed at the sign above the booth they we standing in. They were standing in the Crosby booth that was the word Ryan had seen on the SHUR-Loc Hook he had been using that day at lunch…Crosby. The online store? What else CrosbyGear.com.
Little Crosby was born weighing 7lbs 11oz on March 17th 2017, St. Patrick's Day. His full name, if you haven't already guessed it is Crosby Patrick McKillip! Welcome to the world. "May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid your wherever you go!"
Forgot to mention that baby Crosby's sister's name is Henley. Like Don Henley from the Eagles. But that's another story.
