Memorials › Marion Frances White Crume
Marion Frances White Crume
1 May 1925 – 27 May 2017
| Birth | 1 May 1925 |
| Death | 27 May 2017 |
| Cemetery | Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park Dallas , Dallas County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | TIMES PAST on 10 Nov 2024 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180015037 |
Bio
Marion Frances White Crume, longtime Hockaday School educator and widow of the late Dallas Morning News columnist Paul Crume, passed away on May 27, less than a month after her 92nd birthday, from complications of Alzheimer's. Born in Ranger, TX, Mrs. Crume was the oldest of the five children of Charles D. and Marian Gingrich White, and was the last surviving member of her immediate family. Preceding her in death were her parents; brothers Theodore S. White and William David White; and sisters Nancy White Curry and Charles Anne White, who died in childhood. Survivors include son Christopher Crume; nieces Tammy Stallcup and Elizabeth Huckabee, both of Odessa; nephews William D. White II, Mark White and Paul White; and several great-nieces and nephews. Marion Crume's father taught in various west Texas high schools during her early childhood, later opening an insurance agency as his family grew. She graduated at the top of her class from Grand Falls Royalty High School and attended Sul Ross State Teachers College (now University) in Alpine for one year, then taught for one year in a one-room, multi-grade elementary school in Grand Falls, earning the money to return to school herself. To accompany a younger sister, Marion transferred to Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman's University) in Denton, earning a degree in journalism. Her work as editor of The Lasso, the school's daily student newspaper, drew the attention of the Dallas Morning News managing editor, who invited her for an interview. Hired as a reporter, she moved to Dallas and became assistant to the noted music critic John Rosenfield, Jr. Here she met Paul Crume; the couple married in 1948 at Grand Falls Union Church. After marriage, she left the News in order to have their son in 1949. Once Christopher entered school, she went to work for the Women's Department of the State Fair of Texas. Then, in 1957, Marion took a neighbor's dare and applied for a position at the Hockaday School's old Greenville Avenue campus. Beginning as a second-grade teacher, she moved with the school to its current campus in 1961. She subsequently taught third grade, then later taught fine arts, including art, music, and drama, for the entire Lower School. In 1964, she started the Lower School's publication, The Hockadaisy, a magazine for creative writing and art by the Lower School girls. She also taught an Upper School course one year on the anthropology of the American Indian, which included an extended spring break field trip with her class visiting numerous American Indian historic sites in the western US. She wrote eight children's books, and produced the associated audio/visual materials for the Bowmar Early Childhood Series in 1967-1968, subsequently adopted for use by a number of state education departments including Texas and California. In 1974, she was asked by Ginn & Co. to write a children's book for the Magic Circle Series, one of which is still in print. Following her husband's death, she selected the material to be used and edited a book of his columns, The World of Paul Crume, which was published by SMU Press and enjoyed three printings. She was appointed Hockaday's first full time Head of Lower School in 1979, leading a significant expansion of its scope, size, and presence, as well as the design and construction of the current building. She retired 15 years later, but continued to assist with admissions testing and interviews, and was called back to fill in during the Head's serious illness in 1997-98. Hockaday honored Marion Crume with recognition by its chapter of the Cum Laude Society and as the first Lower School faculty member to be awarded Honorary Alum status. Her legacy, after 37 years, is her positive impact on literally thousands of former students, one of whom is the current Head of Lower School. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday, June 5, at Sparkman/Hillcrest on Northwest Highway, Dallas. Hockaday will hold a Memorial Gathering at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, on campus, 11600 Welch Road, Dallas.
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