Dr. Dwight L. Crane accidently shot himself in the knee in high school, so he never got to be a Navy pilot as he'd planned. So he became an innovator in the field of adolescent psychology instead. Dr. Crane died of cancer Sunday at his home in Bartlett. He was 65. He started the first adolescent in-patient unit of its kind in the region in the 1960s at what was then called the Tennessee Psychriatic Hospital and Research Institute in Memphis.
He later became director of the facility, now the Memphis Mental Health Institute. Dr. Crane earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Memphis State University and his doctoral degree from the University of Georgia. That's where he met his wife, Josie. They were married 38 years
A memorial service will be held at First Unitarian Church (the Church of the River). Memphis Funeral Home on Poplar has charge. Along with his wife, Dr. Crane leaves two daughters, Kellye Crane of New Orleans and Kimberly Crane Hollingsworth of Memphis. He also leaves his mother, Jewell Crane of Memphis; two sisters, June Robertson of Atlanta and Jacque McNair of Memphis; and a brother, Ken Crane of Huntsville, Ala.