Charles Crump, deputy to 17 General Conventions, retires at 95

By Lisa B. Hamilton, December 10, 2008 [Episcopal News Service] The 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church will be unlike the 17 that preceded it. Charles Metcalf Crump, 95, who has served as a deputy from the Diocese of West Tennessee at every General Convention since 1958, won't be serving, citing "age and future health" as reasons he decided against running for election to the 2009 event.

In an interview, Crump said that his desire to serve as a deputy "naturally arose" out of his lifelong involvement as a parishioner and his adult involvement in the Episcopal Churchmen of Tennessee, which he eventually served as president.

Crump recalled his first General Convention more than 50 years ago. "It was in Miami Beach, and we were crowded into a little hotel room seated in folding chairs jammed together." Working conditions aside, the biggest surprise to him was the way in which resolutions were made. After a short oral summary, a vote was taken. Deputies did not know until the summary was presented what was going to be proposed, nor did they have a written record of what had happened the day before or what was on that day's agenda.

Crump successfully recommended that daily printed agendas, copies of all resolutions, and a journal of the previous day's events be distributed each morning. Crump made his recommendations with trepidation, as he was a "freshman," yet he recalls being treated "with respect, even by deputies twice my age."

At the next General Convention in 1961, Crump's recommendations were implemented, "and with good humor," he recalled, "even though it involved time and mimeograph machines."

Today, Crump said, General Convention is "more efficient" and "better organized" than it was in 1958, though he believes that increasingly, "there are possibly more resolutions than are necessary."

Crump retired from his law practice on his 95th birthday in October. A cradle Episcopalian, he was baptized, confirmed and married to the former Diana Wallace at Calvary Church in Memphis. He was instrumental in the founding of Calvary's former mission, Church of the Holy Communion, where he and his wife now worship. They are the parents of three grown sons and the grandparents of two grandsons and two step granddaughters.

-- The Rev. Lisa B. Hamilton is correspondent for Provinces I, II, III and IV. She is based in Venice, Florida and Sandisfield, Massachusetts.

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