Benjamin H. “Ben” Crips, 92, of Cheyenne, died on October 26, 2022 in Cheyenne.
He was born on October 16, 1930 in Cody, Wyoming to Kenneth Leroy and Bessie (Billings) Crips. Ben’s father was killed in a lumber accident when he was 12. He graduated from Cody High in 1948 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January of 1950. After his first deployment in Korea, aboard the USS Badoeing Strait CVE116, he returned to San Diego and was united in marriage to Patricia Katherine Kennedy on August 6, 1951. Th couple had only a few weeks together when his ship was again deployed to the Korea police (war) action. After the second depoloyment in Korea, he was transferred to the Naval Radio Station as the leading electirician in Wahiawa, Hawaii. After five years in the Navy, the family returned to Wyoming. Ben graduated from the University of Wyoming in Laramie in 1958 and went to work as a teacher in San Diego since few school districts in Wyoming would hire a man in the elementary grades. After two years in San Diego, he got a job teaching 5th grade in Thermopolis. Ben then enlisted in the Naval Reserve in Cheyenne and the family moved there. After two years he was called up in the Vietnam War. He went aboard the USS Vega as the leading electrician. When that deployment was through, he became a weekend warrior in the Naval Reserve and returned to Cheyenne where he continued teaching. He received two graduate degrees and became the School District Media/Library Executive coordinator in Cheyenne for three years then returning to teaching at Carey Junior High. In 1976, Chief Crips became Master Sergeant in the Wyoming Army Nation Guard, retired from the Guard in 1987, and enlisted in the Army Reserve where he retired the day before his 60th birthday in 1990. Two years later he retired from the Laramie County School District #1 in 1992.
Ben was an Episcopalian, a member of Cheyenne Lodge Capital #54, AF&AM, and the American Legion Post 6. He enjoyed building, remodeling houses, was an electrician, a carpenter, and sometimes a plumber. As other hobbies, he restored old automobiles and gardened.
He is survived by two sons, Kenneth and Paul Crips, both of Cheyenne; a daughter, Laura Roberts, of Yuma, Colorado; two granddaughters, Michelle Wetherbee and Kristen Wetherbee; two grandsons, Josh and Andy Crips; and a half-brother, Rev. Kenneth Dowdy; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Services will be Wednesday, 10:00 a.m., at St. Christopher Episcopal Church with military honors and burial to follow in Lakeview Cemetery.
Published by Wiederspahn-Radomsky Chapel of the Chimes on Nov. 10, 2022.