Critz was born in Starkville, Mississippi on December 22, 1923 to Harry T. Critz and Ethel Lucille Ferguson Critz. Thomas F. Critz's father was born in Mississippi and his mother was born in Louisiana. He was engaged to a local girl, but after she received the news that Crtiz was lost at sea, she married another man from Starkville.
Thomas F. Critz had six siblings: Ethyllyn L. Critz, Mary W. Critz, Richard Laurens Critz, Beverly Critz, and Martha Adele Critz.
Map of the house where the Critz family lived on Main Street Starkville, Mississippi. [Source: 1930 United States Federal Census]
Education:
The Critz family valued education, so Thomas F. Critz attended school in the Starkville Separate School District until he was nineteen years old. He also went to college for two years at Mississippi State University, where he was an engineering major and in the Sigma Alpha Epilson fraternity.
Thomas Ferguson Critz's Mississippi State University yearbook photo, shown in the picture with the red square on the top left. [Source: Ancestry Classroom, U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2013]
List of all the members in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. [Source: Ancestry Classroom, U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2013]