| Notes |
- Elderly Teacher, Mrs. Crain, Dies
Mrs. Jessie Bundren Crain, a first-grade teacher who had introduced thousands of new pupils to school life, died late yesterday at the Beverly home, where she lived alone.
Mrs. Crain was 76 and would have retired from McCampbell Elementary School faculty after this school year. She formerly taught for years at old Van Gilder, whose building is now being dismantled.
It is Easter school holiday and apparently only a few close neighbors knew the elderly teacher had been ill several days. She has no immediate family left.
Complained of Pains
“She had complained of chest pain,” said Mrs. Letha Ridenour, a Tazewell Pike neighbor. “But when I went to see how she was, about 11 a.m. yesterday, Mrs. Crain walked out on the porch and said ‘Oh, it’s just heaven outside!’”
Another neighbor, Mrs. Jane Hyatt, stopped by 4:40 p.m. Mrs. Crain came to the door, asked Mrs. Hyatt in and asked her not to let the teacher’s pet French Poodle, Tike, out the door. Then Mrs. Crain walked to a chair and fell over dead.
The body was taken to Rose’s.
Mrs. Crain had made a close companion of Tike. She had had the Poodle since a previous pet, Miss Muffett, a Chihuahua, died two years ago.
Each Gave Her Hug
The long-time teacher hadn’t missed a school day in her classroom since 1948. She found time for various other interests too. She was active in Shannondale Presbyterian Church, Ossoli United Daughters of the Confederacy and Daughters of the American Revolution. She came here with her late parents from Lexington, Ky., in 1921.
Mrs. Crain was ever thinking up some pleasant surprise which kept her small pupils endeared to her. One of the last such events was the Valentine Party she gave them this year.
Mrs. Crain visited her first-graders parents regularly. She kept her classroom bright and gay with homemade decorations. At the end of the day her little boys and girls would line up and each give teacher a farewell hug before starting for home.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Knoxville, Tennessee. Thursday, 14 April 1960.
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1889 - 1960 (70 years)
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