Glenis was born in rural Marshall County, Alabama, the son of John and Annie (Ray) Crow. He married Mildred Couch on August 4, 1940 on the front porch of the home of a local Justice of the Peace. He was inducted on September 2, 1944, into the US Navy in Birmingham, Alabama, and honorably discharged March 7, 1946, at the Personnel Seperation Center, Memphis, Tennessee. He was trained at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, and attended Armed Guard School in Norfolk, Virginia. During WWII, he was stationed at the Armed Guard Command Center in Brooklyn, New York, and served as a gunner aboard three vessels: Liberty Ship SS Samuel McIntyre, troop transport ship SS Sea Robin, and fleet tanker USS Neches. He was aboard the Neches in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the treaty ending WWII. He was awarded the American Theatre Ribbon, European-African Theatre Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon, and the Victory Medal. After the war, he went to work as a structural iron worker, affiliated with the Ironworkers Union Local 92 in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a lifelong member of the VFW and American Legion, and had served as Post Commander for the local VFW Post. He was named an Honorary Deputy Sheriff by his longtime friend, Etowah County Sheriff James Hayes. He also was co-owner/operator of Mildred's Restaraunt in Attalla, Alabama, and fathered two children, Sonny and Sandra. During his career as an ironworker, he was exposed over the years to large amounts of asbestos, and acquired lung cancer as a result of asbestos poisoning. In July of 1996, he was admitted to Healthsouth Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, for cancer treatment. He slipped into a coma, and passed away early in the afternoon on August 23, 1996. His funeral was held at Morgan Funeral Chapel in Attalla, and he was buried at Rainbow Memorial Park in Rainbow City, in the family lot he purchased when the cemetery was opened in the 1950's.