Ronald Crim ENGLE

The following bio was taken from pages 194-195 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Gloria Riley

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

I, Frances Lucile Crim, was born January 21, 1911 in Henderson, Texas, daughter of Elias Fleming and Mattie Mae Spharler Crim. The name “Frances” is the female version of (Frank) Hiram Spharler, my grandfather. My older brother, Otis (1905-1960), lived his entire life in Henderson and operated Otis Crim Funeral Home until ten years before his death. My younger brother, Elias Fleming, Junior, was born November 11, 1919, the year after World War I ended. He married Anna Katheryn Elder, born February 1, 1922. They have three children: Elias Fleming III, Amanda Lou Crim Rawlinson and Nina Katheryn Crim Loritsch. They have two granddaughters, Anna Rachelle and Cortney Glyn Rawlinson. I grew up in a small town atmosphere of neighborliness that gave children a feeling of security and safety. Families were very close and in any emergency, as that of a small boy who was missing several hours, the entire town was searched by all until he was found asleep at a neighbor’s house and had forgotten to tell his parents. I well remember unpaved streets, cars with folding jumper seats that we children loved, curtains that had to be snapped on the windows to keep the rain out, though, of course, they never did as we always came home drenched after a rainy car ride. Sundays were special since after church, First Baptist of Henderson, of which my father was Sunday School Superintendent for many years, we would go to Crim’s Chapel, ten miles north of Henderson, to visit my grandparents and one sister of my father. At my grandmother’s home I had my first experience with a player piano that operated by foot pedals and had music on cylinders. During my sophomore year at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville an exciting era began—the discovery of oil on the Daisy Bradford farm a few miles west of Henderson. Overnight many small, quiet East Texas towns changed, and I was fortunate to be only twenty years old. I began working for my father, Executive Vice-President for forty years of the First National Bank in Henderson. During that time I met Dr. Clifford Gordon Engle, born September 7, 1893, in Toledo, Ohio, son of Irving Clark and Anna Charlotte Rauch Engle. We were married November 14, 1932. We had one son, Ronald Crim Engle, born June 18, 1936 in Henderson. On October 14, 1940 my husband was killed. Our son and I moved in with my parents until I remarried October 15, 1946. My second husband, Robert William Mitchell, son of Thomas Theodore and Irna Maude Mitchell, was born March 31, 1908 in Ft. Worth. For the next eight years we lived in Bethesda, Maryland where my husband was co-owner of Carberts, a jewelry store. The location was historically exciting, being only seven miles from downtown Washington D.C. The advantages were endless, and a special event was attending in 1953 the inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon as President and Vice-President of the United States. We were guests in the senatorial section of the reserved seats. When Ronald graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland, we moved back to Henderson. Ronald attended Baylor University and Texas Christian University, where he received his B.A., graduating Magna cum Laude, and his M.A. Then he attended Brite Divinity School. He served as assistant chaplain at All Saints Hospital, Ft. Worth and Minister of Youth at Ridgelea Christian Church, Sweetwater, Texas, and First Christian Church, Henderson. He was president of the student body at Brite and named in “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.” He received several Bethany Book Awards while attending Brite. He was ordained as a Christian Minister at Ridgelea Christian Church, Ft. Worth in 1962. He was awarded a graduate fellowship of $300.00 at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida in 1963 and was named as that school’s outstanding graduate student in sociology that year. In 1964 Ronald married Carolyn Virginia Ferguson of Leesburg, Florida. They have two daughters: Carolyn Jean Engle, born August 1, 1965 in Tallahassee, and Mary Frances Engle, born May 9, 1969 in Ft. Worth. After receiving his Doctor of Philosophy, Ronald and his family moved to Ft. Worth, where he was a professor in the Sociology Department at Texas Christian University. He also was a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. Ronald died August 29, 1977 in Henderson and is buried in Memorial Gardens. It is a coincidence that Ronald’s daughter, Carolyn Jean, was born in Tallahassee, Florida in 1965, where her great-great-grandmother, Loutie Gibson Crim, was born July 13, 1856. My husband and I live at 320 East Main, Henderson. Our home was built by Uncle Arrington and Aunt Fredricka Spharles Crim in 1924. Ronald’s two daughters, Carolyn and Mary Frances Engle, live in Ft. Worth. Written by Lucile Mitchell