Beverley Jean (Hill) Crump

of Chelsea, Michigan, formerly of Albion, Michigan, passed away on Friday, December 26, 2025, at Silver Maples of Chelsea, at the age of 92. She was known throughout her life for her kindness and compassion, her dedication to family and community, her love of life and love of music, her wit, her endless optimism, and perhaps most of all, her smile.

Bev was born February 13, 1933, in Joliet, Illinois, the daughter of Alvin Floyd and Mary Ethelene (Frye) Hill. Her parents were educators in the public schools in Fairmont and Frankfort, Illinois, where she and her younger siblings, Marnita and Bob, attended primary and secondary school. She was a good student and enjoyed playing clarinet in the band from the time she was in grade school. She also sang in a quartet with three of her friends.

After graduating from high school, Bev attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where she majored in elementary education.  During her college years, she continued playing clarinet in the university marching band. She was also active in the campus Wesley Foundation, and there she met a Ph.D. student named John “Jack” Crump, the love of her life. Her parents wouldn’t allow her to marry until she finished college, so she and Jack married in Urbana, Illinois, on June 19, 1955, the day after her graduation.

The following year Bev started teaching in a local elementary school and had a class of children she truly loved.  She would likely have continued teaching indefinitely, but when her first child, a son, was born in 1956, she elected to stay home with him. Jack finished his doctoral degree the same year.