More than two hundred people gathered at the Mt. Vernon M.B. Church in Yazoo City, Miss. March 26 for the homecoming celebration of long-time educator Annie Camile Jefferson Crudup, born Dec. 10, 1927.
“Mrs. Crudup,” as she will always be affectionately known, served as a teacher and administrator during her extensive tenure with the Madison County schools. She served as science teacher, homemaking teacher, and director of food service.
Having a pleasing personality and cooperative manner, she was loved by fellow teachers and students alike. She retired from the Madison County School System in 1988.
She was a member of many organizations, namely: The Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, National Food Service Assoc-iation, Mississippi Education Association, Yazoo County Retired Teachers, the Jolly Misses and Mesdames Club, Inc. and Ladies Auxiliary to VFW.
Her former students and others feel she is a community icon who will be sorely missed.
“The life of Ann Crudup served as a role model for us to follow,” said Socrates Garrett, a former student and Jackson entreprenuerer, who spoke at her funeral.
Garrett, who is currently president of the Metro-Jackson Chamber of Commerce said: “She was endowed with a loving spirit and served her community and family with diginity and respect. She was like a breath of fresh air so pretty inside and outside. She convinced us that there was a better life than we knew about. The angels are rejoicing today because one of their own has been called home. Her presence on earth touched so many lives and I will forever be greatful for the time I had in her presence.”
Other students at Farmhaven School admired and revered her.
“She was the prettiest teacher I had ever seen,” remembered Marshall Brown, Jr. of Canton. Brown, currently Farmhaven fire chief, was a graduate of Farmhaven High School, where Mrs. Crudup taught. Her husband Timothy Crudup served as principal.
In 1995, Brown and his classmates honored the Crudups with a Roast during their Class Reunion.
Annie Crudup was born to the late Josie Strong Jefferson and Aaron Jefferson in Yazoo City, Miss. She was the second child of three daughters. At a very early age, she joined the Mt. Vernon M. B. Church which she loved and worked untiringly in several areas until her health failed.
At Mt. Vernon, she served as a choir member, Sunday School teacher, Bible School director, supervisor of the Food Share Program, Mother of the church, president of the Usher Board and she served in many other auxiliary committees.
She received her elementary and high school education from old Yazoo City High School No. 2. She graduated Valedictorian of her class in 1946. After graduation, she attended Alcorn College, now Alcorn State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. It was at Alcorn College where she met and married her husband Timothy Crudup. Their marriage spanned a period 60 years. To this union a daughter was born.
She is survived by her loving and devoted husband, Timothy Crudup; daughter, Linda Ann Crudup Gladney; grandson, Brian Timothy Gladney; sisters, Essie J. Gaines and Catherine J. (Aubry) Brent; a sister-in-law, Annie Lillian Thompson; brother-in-law, James Walter (Juanita) Crudup; and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.
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