By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

Long-time Greene County Medical Investigator Ray Crum announced Friday that he plans to retire at the end of this month.

In a news release delivered to The Greeneville Sun on Friday afternoon, Crum, 73, wrote, "I would like to take this opportunity to inform each of you and the citizens of Greene County that I have informed Greene County Mayor Alan Broyles that I plan to retire as the medical investigator effective at the end of business Monday, June 30.

"I appreciate the support that I have received since beginning as medical investigator in 1997 and look forward to this next chapter of my life. As I will be 74 years old on July 16, it is about time to spend some extra time with my family and friends."

Asked if he had any thoughts about who should succeed him, Crum said, "I just hope it's someone who has compassion. Without compassion, you're in trouble."

He also noted that he had "enjoyed" serving as medical investigator since the late 1990s.

In that role, among other duties, Crum has been responsible for informing the relatives of accident victims and others who died "unattended" deaths that their loved ones were deceased.

He also was responsible for arranging for autopsies to be conducted on bodies when autopsies were ordered by the Third Judicial District Attorney General's office.

"Berkeley Bell and Cecil Mills Jr. are great people," he said of the district attorney and his lead assistant.

'An Exceptional Job'

Reached for comment about Crum's impending retirement and how he will be replaced, Mayor Broyles said Crum had "done an exceptional job."

The mayor said he plans to meet next week with County Medical Examiner Dr. Vince Pinyard, M.D., under whose supervision Crum has worked, in an effort to decide how to proceed in filling the vacancy being created by Crum's retirement.

Broyles said he expects the meeting to take place by mid-week and to include Dr. Pinyard, Crum, Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Director Robert Sayne, and himself.

"We're going to go over some things," Broyles said. "Dr. Pinyard's advice will be weighed heavily. We will have something to tell you after we meet."

Crum previously also served as Greene County's Emergency Management Agency Director, a position from which he retired Dec. 31, 1999.

Prior to retiring as EMA Director, Crum served as both medical investigator and EMA director simultaneously for several years.

Asked on Friday if there is a possibility that the county might return to such a system again, Broyles said "all options" will be considered in filling the void left by Crum's retirement.

Magnavox Experience

A southern Greene County native, Crum said he had spent all his life here -- except for two years in the U.S. Army in the 1950s and two years in Arizona and Mexico with The Magnavox Company in the early 1970s.

After returning to Greeneville from military service in Germany, Crum noted, he returned to the Magnavox television assembly plant here where he had worked before entering the U.S. Army.

"My first job (after returning from military service) was as a second-class repairman," he said. "I replaced bad components in sets that failed final tests."

But Crum worked his way up to foreman, eventually becoming general foreman for material distribution.

In April 1972, he took an assignment as material superintendent at a new Magnavox plant in Nogales, Mexico, and moved his wife, Aileen, and two children to southern Arizona, just across the border from the Mexican plant, for two years.

"My son David (now a patrol captain with the Greeneville Police Department) graduated from high school out there," Crum said. "And my daughter, Pamela, finished her first two years of school there."

After returning to Greeneville, Crum retired from Magnavox successor company North American Philips, and worked with a partner as a manufacturer's representative to the electronics industry for a time.

Active In Rescue Squad

In the meantime, however, he had become active in the Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad in the 1970s.

He continued as a squad volunteer until only a few years ago, serving two terms as the organization's secretary and another two terms as its captain.

While volunteering with the Rescue Squad, Crum said, he completed the necessary training to become an emergency medical technician.

After tiring of working as a manufacturer's representative, Crum went to work for Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as an Emergency Medical Technician and continued in that role for several years.

Held Two Positions

In 1986, Crum was named part-time director of the Emergency Management Agency by the Greene County Commission to replace Charles Bryant, who had left the position to join the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

Crum continued to work for Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services and served as the Emergency Management Agency director on a part-time basis until 1991, when he became full-time EMA director.

"I was working 24 hours a day sometimes," he said of his tenure as an EMS employee and part-time EMA director.

Until his retirement as EMA Director at the end of 1999, Crum coordinated the county's disaster response activities and was responsible for checking out spills of chemicals and other hazardous materials to ensure that the necessary clean-up was completed.

All in all, Crum said Friday, he has enjoyed his career.

"I wouldn't take $5 million for the journey," he said, "but, at the same time, I wouldn't give you 15 cents to repeat it."