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Anna Marie Crippen Hill of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation died on June 3 at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx after a long illness. She was 59.
Ms. Hill was born on a United States Army base in Augsburg, Germany, on April 6, 1957, to U.S. Army soldier the late Thom Crippen and his first wife Sylvia. She was raised in New York City by her great-grandmother Claudia Jensen, and by her father Thom and stepmother, Annette Isaacs Crippen, on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation. She was proud of her Native American heritage, and in her younger days, loved nothing more than dancing at Shinnecock’s Labor Day Powwow.
Survivors said that although she was no stranger to pain and suffering throughout her life, she always managed to greet the world with a smile. Laurie Crippen Sanders, her aunt and one of her final caretakers, observed that if Ms. Hill had been able to speak in her final days, she would have said:
“Through it all, I learned to depend on the Creator. If I never had a problem I wouldn’t have known how He could solve them. I learned to trust in Him, to depend on His word. He brought me through the mountains and the valleys. Without Him, I would have never known what faith could do.”
Ms. Hill is survived by a son, Andrew L. Hill Jr.; and grandchildren, Tyler, Trevor and Tanner Hill; her mother, Sylvia Fernandez; her stepmother, Annette Crippen; 10 siblings, Arthur, Anthony and Curtis Crippen, Ernie Cuffee, Carlos and Joseph Fernandez, Carla James, Caprice Crippen, and Dawn and Tonya Fernandez; a brother-in-law, Tony James; a sister-in-law, Crystal Crippen; a best friend and companion, Charles McDowell; and a host of loving aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was predeceased by her grandson, Trey Hill.
A memorial service took place at the Shinnecock Presbyterian Church on Thursday, June 30; The Reverend Michael F. Smith officiated.
on Jul 5, 2016