Frank Crim

Rev. Frank Sprint Crim, 86, of Berryville, Virginia, passed away Sunday, January 22, 2017, at Winchester Medical Center. A minister in the United Methodist Church, Rev. Crim was born in Winchester on October 14, 1930, into a family rooted in the Shenandoah Valley since colonial times. His late mother, Lucy Frances Sprint, and father, F. Gladstone Crim, were both Winchester natives. His wife, Corin H. Crim, is a member of the Berryville Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Nicknamed “Donald” at Handley High School, Frank Crim was president of the senior class of 1948, co-captain of the varsity football team, and an avid member of various dance committees and clubs. “Be good and best of everything,” he wrote in a friend’s yearbook. That high school inscription became his life’s devotion. He studied to be a Methodist minister at the Duke Seminary in Durham, North Carolina. As a theology student, he worked in a general hospital, and went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Duke while ministering to critically ill hospital patients and their families. While in college, the National Football League sought to interview Frank Crim as a possible pro football player for the Cleveland Browns. Committed to the ministry, he turned down the opportunity. Rev. Crim tried to enlist in the military as a chaplain and was accepted, but the military said it had too many Methodist chaplains, so he remained a civilian and became Dean of Men at Randolph Macon College. His long ministry included serving as chaplain of Fairfax Hospital (now Fairfax Inova Hospital), and as minister of churches in Norfolk and Fairfax, and at Cool Spring United Methodist Church in Delaplane. Rev. Crim was also a pastoral counselor in the Fairfax and Winchester areas, serving people regardless of their ability to pay. In addition to his wife, Rev. Crim is survived by three children from a previous marriage: daughters, Lucy Lee Crim of Knoxville, TN and Jennie Lynn Crim of Fairfax, VA; son, F. Sprint Crim, Jr. of Leesburg, a brother, Floyd Gladstone (Buddy) Crim of Palmetto, Florida; and a cousin, Mary Lou Sprint of Winchester. A memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, January 27, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Winchester South Building, 230 Justes Drive, in Winchester. Flowers may be sent to Jones Funeral Home, 228 S. Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester VA 22601.