Charles Metcalf Crump, 96, of Memphis died Monday morning at his home. He was the oldest and longest term practicing attorney in Shelby County having begun the practice September 1, 1937 after graduating from the Law School of the University of Virginia, where he was a member of Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity and on the Board of the Virginia Law Review. He was the son of Mary Metcalf and Dabney Hull Crump born in the family home on Union Avenue East of Cleveland. He was educated at Miss Pentecost School, the old Memphis University School and received a BA degree from Southwestern, now Rhodes College, in 1934. At Southwestern he was a member of ODK honor fraternity, having received the ODK Ideal Sophomore Cup. He was student manager of football, basketball and track and was Vice-President of the student body his senior year. September 1, 1937, he entered the practice of law in the firm begun by his grandfather, Charles Wesley Metcalf, for whom he was named and where his uncle, William Park Metcalf, was practicing. A member of the American, Tennessee and Memphis Bar Associations and Board Member, Treasurer and Secretary of the latter, in 1964 he received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Bar Association for his work in continuing legal education. He was a fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Memphis Bar Foundation. In 2004, he received the Judge Jerome Turner Lawyer's Lawyer Award from the Memphis Bar Association. He was a Director and Secretary of the Board of NationsBank of Tennessee/Memphis and predecessors and a member of the Advisory Board of Bank of America, Memphis. For more than fifty years, he served on the Board of Trustees of Elmwood Cemetery. He was a member of the Memphis Country Club. He was a Representative from Shelby County to the Tennessee House of Representatives at the sessions in 1939, 1941, and 1943. He was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy Reserve in November, 1943 and separated in 1946 after service as an Air Combat Intelligence Officer with Dive Bombing Squadron VB-85 aboard the air craft carrier U.S.S. Shangri La, CV-38, in the Pacific Theatre, at Okinawa and the home islands of Japan from February to September, 1945 and received a Letter of Commendation from the Admiral in charge. He was a member, for some fifty years, of the Memphis Rotary Club and served as Director on several occasions and President of both the Rotary Club and the Rotary Foundation. He was a Paul Harris Fellow and received the Outstanding Community Service Award in 2005. He was a Life Scout, Scoutmaster, President and member of the Executive Board of Chickasaw Council, Boy Scouts of America and received the Silver Beaver Award in 1943. He was a life member and past Senior Protestant Co-chair of the Board of the Memphis Region, National Conference of Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews. From this organization, he received a Special Human Relations Award and in 1999 the Humanitarian Award. He was a founder and Board Member of Diversity Memphis. He was a member and former Vice-Chair for Tours, Memphis Chapter, U. S.China People's Friendship Association and was a tour leader on four tours to China. He received the Junior Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Young Man of Memphis Award in 1943. He was Past President and member of the Executive Board of Rhodes College International Alumni Association. He was a founding member of Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal) in Memphis. At the national level of The Episcopal Church, he was a Lay Deputy to every Triennial General Convention from 1958 through 2006. He was Vice President of the House of Deputies from 1967 through 70 and Parliamentarian for three General Conventions. He served on many Committees and Commissions of the General Convention and was a member of the Executive Council of the National Church from 1964 through 1970. He was a Lay Deputy to the Provisional Synod from 1957 through 2006. He was a Delegate to the Annual Convention of the Diocese of Tennessee from 1958 through 1982, a member of the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Council and other Committees of the Diocese. He was President of the Episcopal Churchmen of Tennessee in 1955 and 1956. In The Diocese of West Tennessee, he was a Delegate to every Annual Convention beginning in 1983 and was Parliamentarian, Chancellor, Member of the Bishop and Council and the Standing Committee from 1983 to the present. In 1989 he received the Bishop's Award for Ministry and in 2004 the Bishop's Cross Award. He was the first Superintendent of the Sunday School for the Chapel of Church of the Holy Communion, 1939 through 1943, Chairman of the Building Committee which oversaw the construction of Church of the Holy Communion, the first Senior Warden of the Parish in 1951 and a member of various Committees of the Parish. He leaves his loving wife of 70 years, Diana Wallace Crump, three sons and their wives, Charles Metcalf Crump, Jr. and Madeleine, Philip Hugh Wallace Crump and Beverley, and Stephen Beard Crump and Beth; two grandsons and their wives, Patrick Metcalf Crump and Holly, and Claude Stephan Crump and Jennifer and their mother Michele Robin Crump, three step-grandchildren, Julia, Christian and Olivia; and four great-grandchildren, Taylor Crump, Charles Metcalf Crump, III, Maceo Crump and Van Wallace Crump. The Burial of the Dead and The Holy Eucharist will be 11 a.m. Thursday, August 12 at Church of the Holy Communion (4645 Walnut Grove Road 38117) with visitation to follow in Cheney Parish Hall at 12:30 p.m. Private burial for family will be in Elmwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are requested for Church of the Holy Communion, Rhodes College or a charity of choice. Canale Funeral Directors (Published in The Commercial Appeal on August 10, 2010)