Robert L. Crispin

Robert L. Crispin, 90, of 752 Albright Drive, Meadville, died comfortably and at peace after months of declining health on August 14, 2007, in the Transitional Care Unit of the Meadville Medical Center.

He was the husband of Vera Krieghoff Crispin, to whom he has been married since June 18, 1940.

Bob was born in Central City, Colorado, on April 19, 1917, the son of Alice (Mills) and Robert Crispin.  He was descended from a long line of Cornish tin miners who came to this country in the late 19th century to work in the silver mines of Colorado. He was enormously proud of his Cornish heritage, which he researched extensively, keeping in touch with several generations of relatives in England.  On his last trip to see them, Bob and his daughter walked the South Coast Trail along the sea in Devon and Cornwall.

Bob was educated at the University of Colorado, where he met his wife, and at Penn State University, from which he earned his Ph. D. in German language and literature.  He was also a graduate of the US Navy Japanese Language School, after which he joined the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Theater, where he served in 1944 and 1945, and then with the Navel Fleet Intelligence Center, Yokosuka, Japan.  He helped translate the Japanese surrender signed on the USS Missouri at the end of World War II, and went ashore in Japan on August 29, 1945, with the first of the Allied Forces to enter the country.

Bob taught German and Spanish language courses at Allegheny College from 1942 to 1982, when he retired with the rank of Professor.  He was also on the German faculty for the summer program at Colorado College and a Lecturer at Penn State, and served as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.  From 1970 to 1972, Bob was the Dean, Regional Council of International Education in Basel, Switzerland.  During his teaching career, he led several “Experiment in International Living” programs in Europe.

During his life in Meadville and especially since his retirement from Allegheny College, Bob was involved with several community organizations. He was a Board Member and President of the Crawford County Literacy Council, served on the Executive Committee of the Meadville Area Soup Kitchen, where he was a charter member of its Board of Incorporators, volunteered for many years at the Meadville Medical Center, was a member, past president and van driver for the Crawford County Unit, American Cancer Society, and was a story hour reader at East End Elementary School.

He was also an active member of and dedicated to the Meadville Unitarian Universalist Church for 53 years, much of that time undertaking research in its archives and writing about the history of the Church.

Bob was a member in good standing of the Army of the Cussewago, and honorably wore his belt buckle awarded after many visits to Civil War battlefields and sites.

In addition to his wife of 67 years, Bob is survived by his three children and several grand- and great grandchildren:  his daughter Karen and her husband Richard Jessup of Providence, Rhode Island; and their children Dana Jessup, her husband Brian Turner and their daughter Lydia, of Milton, Massachusetts; Amy Scaramella, her husband Luke, and their daughters Karaline and Hope, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island; and Kara Jessup and her fiancé Matthew Della Croce, of Los Angeles; his son Robert and his wife Kathy Frisk Crispin of Scarborough, Maine; and their children Jon Crispin and his wife Kirsten, and their daughters Kendall and Jenna, of Northbrook, Illinois;  Debbie Duryee, her husband Burr, and their children Crispin, Piper, and Campbell, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; and Heather Crispin and her fiancé Tyler Polk of West Hartford, Connecticut; and his son Jon Crispin, his wife Cristine Smith, and their son Peter, of Pelham, Massachusetts.

He was preceded in death by his two sisters, Shirley Crispin and Leora Crispin Richards, both of Denver Colorado.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Robert L. Crispin Book Fund, Pelletier Library of Allegheny College, 520 N. Main St. or the Meadville Unitarian Universalist Church, 346 Chestnut St., Meadville, PA 16335, or a charity of the donor’s choice.

There will be a memorial service celebrating Bob’s life on Sunday, October 28th, at 2:00 p.m. in Ford Chapel, on the campus of Allegheny College.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Robert W. Waid Funeral Home, Inc. 581 Chestnut St., Meadville.