Charles was described by Bishop Sanders of the Episcopal Church as “a reconciler, someone who listens to varying points of view, even while being strong in his own views.”

The Right Reverend James Coleman, Bishop of West Tennessee, recalls his (Charles Crump) involvement in the Civil Rights movement. “He was one of the leaders in Memphis in the dialogue between black and white, before and after the assassination of Dr. King,” working for reconciliation between the communities. He has shown a talent at the General Conventions for “clarifying language to move the debate, move the convention along.”


“A FULL LIFE

By MARY DANDO
The Daily News

As Law Week 2002 approaches, Memphis oldest practicing lawyer reflects on a life dedicated to community and church affairs. Charles Metcalf Crump was born Oct. 9, 1913. His father, a cotton broker, was first cousin to E.H. "Boss" Crump, Memphis legendary mayor. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and began practicing law in his uncles firm Sept. 1 1937. He was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1946.

Spry and inquisitive at almost 89, Crump is an integral part of Memphis history. He was the citys assistant attorney from 1947 to 1959. He represented Shelby County in the Tennessee General Assembly 1939, 1941 and 1943 and was secretary of the Shelby County Democratic executive committee from 1938 to 1950. He is the senior member in Apperson, Crump & Maxwell PLC, and goes into the office "just about every day." With the closing of Waring Cox, Crumps firm, founded in 1865 by his grandfather, Charles Wesley Metcalf, on his return from the Battle of Shiloh, is now the oldest law firm in Memphis. A general practice attorney dealing with estates and trusts, he set his lifetime course when he represented a civic group in zoning hearings in his first year out of law school. From there, he became a member and secretary of the Poplar Pike Improvement Association from 1938 to 1943, and 1946 to 1952. He credits the association with containing commercial development along the Poplar corridor. His next concern was urban renewal.

He spent much of his time opposing Memphis Housing Authoritys plans to tear down properties throughout the city. With an office in the Exchange Building Downtown, Crump not only was a witness, but played a part in one of Memphis most historical events. During the sanitation workers strike in 1968, Crump and others met with two of the leaders of the civil rights committee, the Revs. James Lawson and Ralph Jackson. "We met them for three hours. At the end of it, I said to Jim Lawson, How can you spend a whole Saturday afternoon talking to five of us who have no base of power? And he surprised us. He said You are the first white people who have asked to meet with us in the three months of the sanitation strike." Wanting others to get involved, the group formed Memphis Community Leadership Training. They held weekly interracial breakfasts. Crump incorporated the group.

An avid photographer since he was 12, Crump traveled around Germany with a friend in 1937 after he finished law school, and managed to capture pictures of Adolph Hitler in Nuremberg. He said the most memorable aspect of the Fuhrer was his distinctive moustache. Crump is probably best known for his lifetime commitment to the Episcopal church. He has been involved with every level of the organization. "Its like Congress. A lot of the original drafters of the Declaration of Independence were Anglicans, so its not unlikely that our church government is patterned after that," he said. Crump has been a lay deputy and member of the general convention, a vice-president, parliamentarian and member of the house of deputies. He was a member of the churchs executive council from 1964 to 1970. He also was a member of the National Coalition for the Ordination of Women, a former board member of the national association of Episcopal schools and a former board member of the Living Church Foundation. He is not the only Crump to be involved in community affairs. His wife, Diana, founded Sheltered Occupational Shop, and was instrumental in founding Arlington Developmental Center. The couple married July 20, 1940. They have three sons: Metcalf, an architect; Steve, a furniture designer; and Philip, a mediator in Santa Fe, N.M. Metcalf has two sons, Memphis real estate broker Philip and New York-based jazz musician Stephan, who is married to Jennifer Chapin, daughter of the late singer/songwriter Harry Chapin.”

OBITUARY
Charles Metcalf Crump, 96, of Memphis died Monday morning at his home. He was the oldest and longest term practicing attorney in Shelby County having begun the practice September 1, 1937 after graduating from the Law School of the University of Virginia, where he was a member of Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity and on the Board of the Virginia Law Review.

He was the son of Mary Metcalf and Dabney Hull Crump born in the family home on Union Avenue East of Cleveland. He was educated at Miss Pentecost School, the old Memphis University School and received a BA degree from Southwestern, now Rhodes College, in 1934. At Southwestern he was a member of ODK honor fraternity, having received the ODK Ideal Sophomore Cup. He was student manager of football, basketball and track and was Vice-President of the student body his senior year.

September 1, 1937, he entered the practice of law in the firm begun by his grandfather, Charles Wesley Metcalf, for whom he was named and where his uncle, William Park Metcalf, was practicing. A member of the American, Tennessee and Memphis Bar Associations and Board Member, Treasurer and Secretary of the latter, in 1964 he received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Bar Association for his work in continuing legal education. He was a fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Memphis Bar Foundation. In 2004, he received the Judge Jerome Turner Lawyer’s Lawyer Award from the Memphis Bar Association.

He was a Director and Secretary of the Board of Nations Bank of Tennessee/Memphis and predecessors and a member of the Advisory Board of Bank of America, Memphis. For more than fifty years, he served on the Board of Trustees of Elmwood Cemetery. He was a member of the Memphis Country Club. He was a Representative from Shelby County to the Tennessee House of Representatives at the sessions in 1939, 1941, and 1943.

He was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy Reserve in November, 1943 and separated in 1946 after service as an Air Combat Intelligence Officer with Dive Bombing Squadron VB-85 aboard the air craft carrier U.S.S. Shangri La, CV-38, in the Pacific Theatre, at Okinawa and the home islands of Japan from February to September, 1945 and received a Letter of Commendation from the Admiral in charge.

He was a member, for some fifty years, of the Memphis Rotary Club and served as Director on several occasions and President of both the Rotary Club and the Rotary Foundation. He was a Paul Harris Fellow and received the Outstanding Community Service Award in 2005. He was a Life Scout, Scoutmaster, President and member of the Executive Board of Chickasaw Council, Boy Scouts of America and received the Silver Beaver Award in 1943. He was a life member and past Senior Protestant Co-chair of the Board of the Memphis Region, National Conference of Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews. From this organization, he received a Special Human Relations Award and in 1999 the Humanitarian Award. He was a founder and Board Member of Diversity Memphis. He was a member and former Vice-Chair for Tours, Memphis Chapter, U. S. China People’s Friendship Association and was a tour leader on four tours to China. He received the Junior Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Young Man of Memphis Award in 1943. He was Past President and member of the Executive Board of Rhodes College International Alumni Association.

He was a founding member of Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal) in Memphis. At the national level of The Episcopal Church, he was a Lay Deputy to every Triennial General Convention from 1958 through 2006. He was Vice President of the House of Deputies from 1967 through 70 and Parliamentarian for three General Conventions. He served on many Committees and Commissions of the General Convention and was a member of the Executive Council of the National Church from 1964 through 1970. He was a Lay Deputy to the Provisional Synod from 1957 through 2006. He was a Delegate to the Annual Convention of the Diocese of Tennessee from 1958 through 1982, a member of the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Council and other Committees of the Diocese. He was President of the Episcopal Churchmen of Tennessee in 1955 and 1956. In The Diocese of West Tennessee, he was a Delegate to every Annual Convention beginning in 1983 and was Parliamentarian, Chancellor, Member of the Bishop and Council and the Standing Committee from 1983 to the present. In 1989 he received the Bishop’s Award for Ministry and in 2004 the Bishop’s Cross Award. He was the first Superintendent of the Sunday School for the Chapel of Church of the Holy Communion, 1939 through 1943, Chairman of the Building Committee which oversaw the construction of Church of the Holy Communion, the first Senior Warden of the Parish in 1951 and a member of various Committees of the Parish.

He leaves his loving wife of 70 years, Diana Wallace Crump, three sons and their wives, Charles Metcalf Crump, Jr. and Madeleine, Philip Hugh Wallace Crump and Beverley, and Stephen Beard Crump and Beth; two grandsons and their wives, Patrick Metcalf Crump and Holly, and Claude Stephan Crump and Jennifer and their mother Michele Robin Crump, three step-grandchildren, Julia, Christian and Olivia; and four great-grandchildren, Taylor Crump, Charles Metcalf Crump, III, Maceo Crump and Van Wallace Crump.

The Burial of the Dead and The Holy Eucharist will be 11 a.m. Thursday, August 12 at Church of the Holy Communion with visitation to follow in Cheney Parish Hall at 12:30 p.m. Private burial for family will be in Elmwood Cemetery.

The following article is from the Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 11, 2010:

Charles Crump chose law over cotton
• By Jody Callahan

On the cusp of adulthood, Charles Crump had a decision to make. He could follow his father into the cotton business. Or he could follow his uncle and grandfather in the practice of law.

Mr. Crump chose the latter, and, beginning in 1937, he practiced law at one of the city's oldest firms, now called Apperson Crump.

Mr. Crump, who retired in 2008 at the age of 95, died Monday morning at his home. He was 96.

"Charlie didn't want to go in the cotton business. He went into the law," said John Maxwell, a longtime friend and law partner. "That was his nature. That's what he wanted to do and did very well for a long period of time."

Born in 1913, Mr. Crump -- a cousin of legendary Memphis mayor E.H. "Boss" Crump -- graduated from what is now Rhodes College and the University of Virginia law school.

He served in the Navy during World War II, although that wasn't a simple matter of signing up. When he tried to enlist in 1943, he was turned away for a multitude of health problems, including poor eyesight, said his son, Metcalf Crump.

"Instead of giving up, he went to an optometrist to see if he could correct his vision," he said. Mr. Crump was eventually admitted in 1944, serving as a Navy intelligence officer in the Pacific who briefed dive bomber pilots before their missions.

Although he devoted decades to the law firm, and enjoyed it, his sons suspect he had another vocational love at heart.
"My dad would have loved to have been a builder," said another son, Stephen Crump, an artist and furniture maker. "He was the classic do-it-yourselfer. Hands on, building things all the time. "But by nature, he's an engineer and would have loved to do that." Added Maxwell: "He's the most unique person I've ever known and one of the most talented people I've ever known."

None of his sons followed Mr. Crump into the law.

"My dad always supported me in whatever endeavors I was doing. He never tried to push me into one career or another," said Metcalf Crump, an architect. "I think he wanted me to do what I wanted to do, as long as I did it well."

In addition to his sons, Mr. Crump also leaves his wife of 70 years, Diana Crump; another son, Philip Crump; two grandsons; three step-grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.