Dr. Hugh Don Cripps has been a major measure of DeKalb County’s healthcare for almost 42 years. He has delivered over 2,000 babies, traveled all over the world, eaten the finest cuisine yet still enjoys farming, gardening and occasionally cooking for his children and grandchildren.

Born in Woodbury, Dr. Cripps’ family ran a store in Cannon County at Mechanicsville. The family lived there until he was three or four, but moved to town when his father got a job at the post office.

His father, Wilson Cripps, continued to carry the mail, while his mother, Francis (Grizzle) worked at the shirt factory. His mother was a Head Start teacher for the last 15-20 years that she worked. She had two more sons, Gary, who was a local pharmacist, and Wayne, an X-ray technician. His paternal grandparents were Sam and Martha Cripps, and his mother’s parents were George and Lela Grizzle.

"I never knew my grandparents on my father’s side, but did know my grandparents on his mother’s side," Dr. Cripps said. "I loved to spend time in the summers with them. It was always fun and I would make the rounds and spend time with my aunts and uncles. Gary and I would go for a week at a time. I’m sure they was glad to see us move on.

"We always had a lot of good times with my cousins. I would go with my family on Short Mountain who farmed. They had no electricity and no water. We would have lunch and then eat leftovers for supper. Go to bed and get up about 5 a.m. and go at it again. I still farm today. I really enjoy gardening, and traveling," Dr. Cripps recalled.

He met his wife Rita when they were about six or seven years old at Smithville First United Methodist Church. They started dating when Cripps was a freshman in high school.

During his teenage years, the Sunrise Grill was the place to be.

"When they were building Highway 70, they had rocks everywhere, and construction equipment, but we’d get in our cars and drive from the Sunrise Grill, which was part of what is now DeKalb Tire and Service to the other restaurant, the Roxanne, which was where Taco Bell is now," Cripps recalled. "That was the loop we made. It wasn’t a very big loop, but Smithville was a simpler town then. You knew everybody, and we had a lot of fun. My mother’s sister opened the Dairy Queen, and I worked there some.

During his high school years he was captain of the football team. He got his diploma from DeKalb County High School in 1964 with the first class to become alumni of the then new facility.

"I actually had a scholarship to play football at UT Martin," said Dr. Cripps. "I went, but one of the guys I was with, my roommate Marvin Puckett, got his hand broken. I wanted to be a doctor, and I didn’t think I could do that with broken hands, so I came back home and went to Tech.

"I had planned to go to medical school all my life. As long as I can remember I wanted to be a doctor," Dr. Cripps said.

Pretty much a bookworm, while basketball manager he would pack his books and study during the breaks between quarters and at halftime.

"It was all hard work," Dr. Cripps added. "Hard working and hard studying is all I did. I studied all the time in medical school, but I graduated second in my class. I had the highest grade in the school of arts and sciences at Tech, so it payed off."

He went to Tennessee Tech, and Rita went to UT Martin. The couple were married in 1967, before he went to medical school. Dr. Cripps graduated medical school in 1970, went to Knoxville for my post-graduate work, and came back to Smithville and started practicing in 1972, the year the new hospital was built.

"I never regretted coming back home. I’ve enjoyed every minute."

"I went into practice with Dr. (J.K.) Twilla and Dr. (Jerry) Puckett at the old Doctors Building downtown after they called and asked if I would join them," said Cripps.

"They were no ER doctors," recalls Dr. Cripps. For a while it was me and Dr. Puckett and Dr.Twilla, so we worked the emergency room. So if you didn’t see us at the office you would have to see us at the emergency room.

"Dr. Twilla and I used to deliver 200 to 300 babies a year each. Of course now we don’t even do obstetrics in Smithville. But, we used to deliver here in Smithville, and they didn’t in McMinnville. So we got a lot of people from Warren County too. I have probably delivered more than 2,000 babies in DeKalb County. Plenty of days I have delivered 3 or 4 babies in one day. We recruited Dr. Blevins in 1974. And now just in our office we have six doctors and four nurse practioners.

"There’s me, Doug Hooper, Jack Rhody, Will Sherwood, my son-in-law Steven Cooper, and Kevin Rhody.

"We have been in the building where we are now on (Highway 56) for a little more than 15 years. I first practiced in DeKalb General for a while. We had Doctors Hospital in the old Dr. Knowles building. That was with Dr. Twilla, Dr. Blevins, Dr. Thornton Bryan, Dr. Darrah, Dr. Trudel and Dr. Abbott we all worked there and at the other place, too. We had room for about 20 people. Later we owned part of the hospital and owned all of it for a while it has changed hands multiple times since then. When we owned we received several awards every year. As a physician, I feel healthcare has come off the patient and to the paperwork. Our healthcare is in bad shape.

"When we used to practice you had to be good at taking care of people that got their arm caught in corn pickers; I have seen those. I have done tracheotomies on people at the hospital and on porches; a boy was choking to death - didn’t even have time to numb him. I’ve treated people from bad car wrecks and snake bites. There was no helicopters then so you better know how to take care of them. We just looked after them and took care of them. We done surgeries for what was needed to be done. We had endoscope here before they did at Nashville hospital. It was in 1972 I would go to Knoxville and learn how to do endoscopy. I was asked to go places and talk about how to do the procedures.

"Sometime before we had ventilators a patient had an allergic reaction. Dr. Twilla and I took turns manually for 24 hours pumping the air. You did what you could and used what we had. I learned a lot from Dr. Twilla and Dr. Puckett.

Dr. Twilla retired in his late fifties, and Dr. Puckett got sick when he was in his fifties. In January it will be 45 years that Cripps have been in practice in DeKalb County.

"I don’t know of any other doctor in this county who’s worked that long," said Dr. Cripps.

Dr. Cripps and wife Rita have three daughter Rachel, Martha, and Sara. Rachel went to physical therapy school, and met and married Dr. Jeffery McCarter, a surgeon in Cookeville. They have three children, Jacob, Caroline and Claire. Sara is a local attorney, and is married to Matt Garner, who has been the public defender for the Maryville-Alcoa area for several years. Martha went to physical therapy school in Memphis, and met and married Dr. Steven Cooper, who is in practice with me now. They have two sons, Matthew and Andrew.

The couple enjoy traveling all around the world.

"We went to St. Petersburg in Russia on a black sea cruise," said Dr. Cripps. "We were there a couple of days.

"We went to East Germany after the wall came down. The people had been dominated by Russia so long, you could feel the difference in the people from East Berlin and West Berlin. First time we went to China 15 or 20 years ago, it was real different. You could feel the communist state. We were there again three years ago, and it was totally different. It was more relaxed and free and you didn’t feel like you were being observed. The food was a lot better, and I am into food. The best food I have found while traveling was in France and Italy. Man, they got the good food in Italy, I love pasta and French food it can’t be beat. We also like German food too, we took the grand boys on a trip all three of them to Germany, and Austria. We loved the sausages and bratwurst they loved the food and we did too. We have eaten our way back and forth across the world. We are taking the granddaughters to Alaska in June."

Cripps still enjoys farming and gardening.

"I still farm today," he shared. "I really enjoy gardening, and traveling. Rita and I have traveled to China, Tibet, Europe, the Holy Land and Egypt. Last year we went to Peru and this August we plan to go to Russia for the second time. Tibet was fun but not like China. They are very religious and still do things they did three thousand years ago.

"I have started cooking some I really enjoy it. I have made banana foster and seafood gumbo; that is our traditional Christmas meal. The family enjoys it. We are very close to our kids and grandkids. We really enjoy and love being with the grandkids."

Retirement plans.

"I asked Dr. Twilla once after he retired if he missed work," recalled Cripps. "He said ‘Do I look like I miss work? I fish every day!’ I just couldn’t do that. I start feeling useless after a few days. We went to Florida for four weeks, and after three weeks I was stir crazy. I just couldn’t do it. DeKalb County has been good to me and in turn I have tried to be good back. I have taken a lot of pride in the hospital.

"I have thought about retiring but after my trip to Florida I realized I was bored so I am going to keep going."