Polly Lenore Crisp

KNOXVILLE - Dr. Polly Lenore Crisp of Knoxville, born May 20, 1952, passed away after a tragic fall at home on January 17, 2024. A graduate of Doyle High School and the University of Tennessee, she earned Masters and PhD degrees in Psychology from Michigan State University, before beginning her career as a psychotherapist at the Arbours Center in London, England, and later in Augusta, Maine, where she served as a clinical psychologist at the Kennebec Valley Mental Health Center. Following her return to Knoxville, Dr. Crisp worked at the Overlook Mental Health Center, while concurrently teaching at UT Knoxville as an adjunct assistant professor, before entering private practice as a clinical psychologist with the North Knox Health Center at Cherokee Health Systems. Preceded in death by her parents, John P. Crisp, Sr. and Dorotha “Dot” Hogan Crisp, she is survived by her brother John P. Crisp, Jr., his wife Margaret “Meg” Gordon Crisp, both of Brentwood, Tennessee, and her nephew and nieces, John Crisp III, Megan Crisp, and Leslie Crisp. A talented artist and craftsperson, Dr. Crisp was a lover of art, reading, music, gardening and landscaping, and she greatly loved and appreciated her cousins Mike Hogan and Mary Cobble Wells; her devoted friends Pam and Garry Ivens, LisaAnne and Richard Russell, Bernice Carpenter, and their families for their many kindnesses through the years; her extended family in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia; and her dear kittens Siegfried and Romeo. A brief memorial service is scheduled for 11 am on Saturday, May 18, 2024 at Berry Highland South, 9010 E Simpson Rd, Knoxville, TN 37920. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Young-Williams Animal Center, 3201 Division Street, Knoxville, TN 37919.