People in the Halls community will remember Rob Crumpton, energetic young pastor of Crossroads Presbyterian Church from roughly 1964-76. Rob, now known as the Rev. Dr. Robert Thomas Crumpton of Memphis, died Feb. 14, 2024, just four days shy of his 94th birthday.
During his time here, Crumpton served as moderator and stated clerk of the Knoxville Presbytery. He was active in the Halls Elementary School PTA, being designated as a lifetime member, and he was named Halls Man of the Year by the Business & Professional Association. His daughter, Sally Anne Crumpton, continues to live in Knoxville, and his son, Thomas, lived here until he passed away in 2014.
According to his obituary, Crumpton took an interesting route to the ministry. A Mississippi native, he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in dairy husbandry from Mississippi State University, and he served in the Mississippi National Guard during the Korean Conflict.
He attended Louisville Presbyterian Seminary in Kentucky as a special student and began preparatory work for his lifelong dream of spreading God’s word. He earned a second bachelor’s degree, was ordained to the ministry and began his work as a pastor. In 1980, he entered the doctoral program at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, completing that degree in 1982.
Two years later, he was recruited into missionary work and he spent 10 years in Ghana, West Africa, where he taught lay training and started an agricultural and development project in two remote areas. He returned to the United States in 1992 and continued working as a pastor until retirement in 2012. Following a private family burial at Memphis Funeral Home, a memorial service will be held at Advent Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m. after which there will be a small reception.