by Happy Orion, Town Reporter
St. Titosburg Times-Dispatch
01 January 1999
Bunny Crawford is one of the most attractive looking grandmothers I have ever seen. The thirty-eight year old St. Titosburg woman also happens to be the mother of two of our town’s most talented singing sensations. Cody Jackson released an album, White Trash Folklore, with his band Flint right before Christmas. His half-sister, Harmony Potter, sang back up vocals on Jackson’s album and is about to branch out and record an album of her own. Bunny is very proud of both offspring and talked to us about her life and current role as St. Titosburg’s most famous mom.
Bunny has lived her entire life at Three Rivers Trailer Park. The only moves she has ever made have been from one mobile home to another. She was first married at fourteen to Keith Jackson, a bootlegger. The marriage didn’t last long but she shows no bitterness towards it. “My marriage to Keith was worth every week. Through it, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave me the gift of Cody.”
Her next marriage lasted only a year when her husband, who she declines to name “in case he finds out and wants some of my son’s money”, fled in a rage after Bunny refused to leave baby Cody in the trailer park’s neighboring woods. Finally with her third husband, Jim Bob Potter, Bunny was able to land in her words “a good man”. Jim Bob hosted his own cable-access television show about hunting. “It was called Hunting with Jim Bob”, Bunny says. “That’s where Harmony gets her innate ability to entertain I think.” Harmony was born to the Potters on Bunny’s twentieth birthday and Jim Bob was quite happy. “He was a good husband and father to both Harmony and Cody.”
Things however turned sour about six years ago when Jim Bob was involved in a horrible hunting accident. At first, Jim Bob appeared to have been lucky and survived with only a pellet meshed into his skin as a reminder of his good fortune. However, the accident left Jim Bob with performance problems. Bunny says, “Jim Bob was a proud, proud man. It hurt his ego and although I pretended it didn’t matter, he still felt inadequate. If Viagara had been on the market back then, I think it could have saved our marriage.”
Early one night in 1992, a distraught Jim Bob left Three Rivers Trailer Park and has not been heard from since. “That was hardest on Harmony. Cody was busy on the motocross circuit at the time. He was living with Alexa, they already had Ivory and Jermaine was on the way. But Harmony felt she had nobody. That’s when she really started to get into singing.”
Bunny Crawford married husband number four only a few months ago but she had known him for some time. “Billy Ray [Crawford] is Alexa’s father. I got to meet him a bit when Ivory and Jermaine were born but at the time I was still with Jim Bob”. She says she has never been happier and is proud of both her children. When asked who would she rather hear sing, she said Harmony. “Cody’s talent is racing dirt bikes. I don’t care what any one else thinks. He would have been national champion if he hadn’t hit that stop sign. Cody craves the spotlight. He is a motocross racer turned singer. Harmony, now Harmony, is a singer.”
What does she think the future holds for her children? “Well I’m preggers so they’ll have another little brother or sister to look forward to. I hope Cody ditches that little Irish singer and realizes his life is with his children and Alexa. I think he thinks he needs to act like Mister Big Rock Star and date a celebrity but Alexa is Miss Florida Trailer Park ’92 and Miss North Florida ’93 so you can’t tell me Cody’s current ladyfriend could be any more of a looker. If Cody married Alexa, it would make the holidays a cozier time for both Billy Ray and me. As for Harmony, I hope her record is easier to make than Flint’s was. She’s so talented that girl. She’s gonna kick Brandy’s ass when she gets the chance.”
Bunny Crawford has sure led an interesting life. She is definitely one of St. Titosburg’s fascinating citizens.