Tallahassee pioneer Edith Young Crump celebrates 100th birthday
Tallahassee has its share of strong, successful women — and a special one is Edith Pauline Young Crump — a pioneer and pillar of strength who has blazed a bright trail for 100 years in the Tallahassee-Leon County community.
Born 100 years ago, and halfway to Tallahassee’s bicentennial, Edith Pauline Young Crump was born in Tallahassee on Jan. 8, 1924 to the late Elizabeth Nickerson Simmons and was raised by her grandfather and grandmother, Sargeant and Camilla Young.
She’s the oldest sister of 13 siblings and is affectionately known as “Sister” to those around her. Crump comes from a family of devout and dedicated African Methodist Episcopal (AME) worshippers.
Four of her five brothers became AME ministers. Mrs. Crump set the standard in her family by being a role model, mother and the driving force of excellence. She was educated in the public schools of Leon County, and attended the old Lincoln High School.She was class salutatorian, and she furthered her schooling in health education and business management.
Crump left Tallahassee and worked in a clothing factory in Philadelphia with her brother, John, and sister, Lillie, at an early age. Because she did not like the cold weather, she eventually came back to Tallahassee.
In her early 20s, she married the late Edward (Ned) Guy Crump II, who was an agricultural instructor at the old Lincoln High School, Florida A&M University, rancher and cattleman. Ned joined her at Mt. Moriah AME Church, which became New Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (New Mt. Zion) after merging with Zion Hill AME Church where she had been a longtime member.
During the early years of her marriage, she was employed at the state of Florida’s W.T. Edwards Tuberculosis Hospital, which later became Sunland Hospital and is no longer in operation.
It also was during this time that she and her husband along with his father, Adlai Stevenson Crump, and mother, Rosetta Gardner Crump, and sister, Thelma Crump Robinson, farmed, leased and prospered on the hundreds of acre spread in northeast Leon County. Crump Road was named for the family.
The family gave generously to the community through their philanthropic gifts to help make life better for others. They also owned rental properties in the FAMU, Bond and Northeast Tallahassee communities, and a store specializing in grocery and farm needs, Crump’s Tavern and Crump Brothers Package Store — a store owned and operated by her husband, his father and uncle, Albert Ralph Crump Sr., in Frenchtown.
A business dominated by men, she says she had to learn specifics. “Looking back on my life, I had to educate myself on the business aspects of property management and entrepreneurship. My husband wanted me to learn the businesses because it was ours as a family,” said Mrs. Crump.
“Frenchtown was known as the place where (at one time) Black people shopped, got our hair done, ordered prescriptions and medicines, dined out and grocery shopped,” said Crump. “I am sure some people in this community can still remember stores like Crump Brothers Package Store, Crump’s Tavern, Goldsmith’s Apparel, The Red Bird Café, The Eldorado Café, The Chicken Shack, Mack’s Sandwich Shop, Economy Drugs, Artistic Barber and Beauty Shop, Brewington Gas Station and Lloyd White Barber Shop.”
The business of Crump Brothers Package Store, a store which originated in the early '50s was eventually sold after her husband’s death. The family was one of the first blacks to own and operate a licensed liquor store in Leon County.
She and her husband raised and educated her younger sister and foster daughter, Jessie Simmons Alexander, now a retired Maryland educator, as their own. After 10 years of marriage, they became the parents of Marilyn Crump Dickey, Rhonda Crump Hester and Thelma Crump, all of whom are educated and successful in their respective fields. She has six grandchildren, and two deceased grandchildren. All daughters agree that their mother was the driving force behind their successes.
After her husband’s death in 1966, Mrs. Crump continued to prosper and raise her three very young girls. She owned, operated and managed Crump’s Tavern until retiring in 1995, and continues to own property in Northeast Tallahassee.
She is a Deaconess and served on the Stewardess Board and the Seniors’ Ministry at New Mount Zion and enjoyed traveling. Last year, she was honored as Woman of the Year by the Women’s Missionary Society.
“I’ve had a wonderful life and it has been full and complete,” said Crump. “I have seen a lot of changes in Tallahassee and in this world for that matter – some for the good and some not so good. My husband and I were always strong disciplinarians and believers in the value of education. I’ve been blessed to raise and see my daughters grow up to be fine, productive women in this community. This has always been a priority for me and my husband and I made a vow to him before he died that I would do all that I could to see that this would happen.”
Thelma Crump wrote this tribute to her mother, Edith Young Crump, for her 100th birthday.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Edith Young Crump celebrates 100th birthday
