Catherine Crippen Killed, Daughter Hurt In Crash

Mrs. Catherine B. Crippen, 48, of 911 Robin Rd., the wife of Ann Arbor attorney James A. Crippen, died last night at Fremont Memorial Hospital, Fremont, Ohio, from injuries suffered at 7 p.m. yesterday in an automobile accident on the Ohio Turnpike near Castalia, Ohio. Her daughter, Christine, 19, a student at Baldwin-Wallace College at Berea, Ohio, a passenger in the car driven by her mother, was reported in "serious" condition today at Fremont Memorial Hospital. Sgt. James Abernathy, communications officer for the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Berea, told The News this morning the accident occurred when a car driven by Dr. Edwin King, 56, of Cleveland, jumped the turnpike median and was struck on the right side by the Crippen vehicle. Dr. King also was killed in the accident. Mrs. Crippen had driven to Berea to bring home her daughter who had just completed her freshman year at Baldwin-Wallace College and was returning to Ann Arbor when the accident happened, according to another daughter, Mrs. Gary (Barbara) Jones of Albion. Sgt. Abernathy said the cident report indicated a light rain was falling at the time making the pavement wet. He said the King vehicle skidded on slick pavement, causing the driver to lose control. He said the King vehicle was a "total" wreek and the front end of the Crippen vehicle was severely damaged. The Ohio Highway Patrol accident reports listed Christine as having a fractured right wrist and face lacerations. A spokesman at the Fremont hospital n u r s i n g station said, however, that a report on rays taken this morning was not yet complete and the full extent of the injuries was not I known. Sgt. Abernathy said the accident occurred at the turnpike's I 105-mile post in eastern Sandusky County near the border of Erie County. Mrs. Crippen was elected I early this month to the I ber United Methodist Health I and Welfare Certification Council of the General Church. Active in local church work I at the First Methodist Church, she was a past president of the Retirement Homes Corp. of the I Detroit Annual Conference of I the United Methodist Church which administers the affairs of I the Chelsea Methodist Home. She was a member of the I Phoebe Beal Circle of the Kings Daughters. During her term of office, she headed planning for the Methodist retirement nome in Flint. On Saturday she was to have taken office as vice chairman o f the Detroit Conference I Board of Health and Welfare I Ministries of the United I ist Church. She was first elected to the I Chelsea Methodist Home board of managers in 1958, and to the I board of trustees in 1960. She I was a past president and I ber of the Lawyers' Wives of I I Washtenaw County. . A 1943 gradúate of Central I Michigan University, Mrs. Crippen had pursued gradúate studies at the University of Michigan. She was a member of the Delta Omicron Musical I Sorority and had been a member of the Ann Arbor Women's Symphony Association. She was bom on April 19 1922, in Turner, Mich., a daughter of Norman S. and Helen Herr Staebler. She and Attorney James A. Crippen, a former member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education, were married on Dec. 17, 1944. Suivivors, in addition to her husband and daughters Christine and Mrs. Jones, include two other daughters, Lisa, 15 and Zerrin, 8, both at home; three sisters, Mrs. Roy Gustafson of Newberry, Mich., Mrs Jack Weitfle of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Mrs. Edward Hickey of Dallas, Texas; and a brother, William Staebler of Au Gres. Mich. Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Hoover Rupert officiating. Cremation has been jILade Memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church Memorial Fund. Arrangements were by the Muehlig Funeral Chapel.