A Rocky Start
When Sean Crim arrived at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches in 1986, his life had already been marked by uncertainty and change.
Sean came to Arkansas as a teenager after spending much of his childhood on the move. Following his father’s dismissal from the military, the family traveled across the country, living in communes as far away as California. As Sean struggled with the instability in his life, he began experiencing behavioral problems at school and was eventually placed in a home for troubled children in Magness.
What was intended to be a 90-day placement lasted more than a year. When it was finally time for him to go home, Sean’s family was nowhere to be found. They had moved out of state, leaving no forwarding address or even a phone number.
With no family in the area, Sean was placed in several foster homes before the Sharp County Sheriff was able to get him to the Ranch.
Finding Stability
At the Ranch, Sean found something that had often been missing from his young life: structure and stability.
He attended Batesville High School, where he played saxophone in the band, sang in the choir, worked on the literary magazine, and joined the Computer Club. He developed strong friendships both at school and at the Ranch.
Sean also remembers the stigma that sometimes came with being a “Ranch kid.” Some people assumed the Ranchers were troublemakers.
However, Sean and other Ranchers knew their stories were more complicated than that. Sean recalls feeling like a “throw-away kid.” After all, his parents, who were supposed to protect and care for him had left him.
At the Ranch, however, Sean was part of a community.
A Rancher replenishes wood for the house furnace
Life there included plenty of responsibility. At Keith Hall, the boys restocked wood for the furnace each evening. They cared for cattle, horses, and goats, sometimes helping with an animal giving birth in the middle of a rainy night. Summers meant baling hay and stacking square bales onto trailers.
Sean also remembers serving with the Bethesda Volunteer Fire Department and learned how to fight wildfires that sometimes occurred on the farm.
There was fun, too. Sean remembers school trips, Ranch activities, the annual Country Christmas Craft Fair with cinnamon rolls made by the maintenance supervisor. He also helped build the Ranch’s Chapel and another Ranch home.
These everyday, real-life experiences helped teach responsibility, teamwork, and perseverance.
As a high school senior, Sean participated in a pilot transitional living program. Residents prepared their own meals, did their laundry, and practiced skills they would need to live independently.
Sean even bought his first car while at the Ranch. It had a manual transmission, so another Rancher taught him how to drive it.
Finding His Own Path Through Service
Sean graduated from Batesville High School in 1989 and enrolled at Arkansas State University. After three semesters of college, and missing the Ranch’s structured environment, Sean decide he needed to make a change, so he joined the Army.
That decision led to a 21-year career as an Army combat medic, including service in Iraq and Kuwait during Desert Storm.
After retiring from the military, Sean worked several warehouse jobs in central Arkansas before finding his way back to Batesville.
Five years ago, Sean began working as a teller at First Community Bank. Since then, he has been promoted to the Branch Manager at their Southside location.
Today, Sean continues serving others outside of his career in banking. He is a live-in caregiver for a family friend and helps maintain the facilities at an apartment complex serving people with disabilities. He attends St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and he is the father of a son and daughter and grandfather of four granddaughters.
Looking Back
Sean Crim, Branch Manager
First Community Bank
Sean doesn’t pretend that every memory of his childhood or his time at the Ranch is a happy one. Coming of age in foster care is difficult, no matter how supportive your foster home is.
But Sean has many good memories and learned important lessons from the people who helped him along the way. Being surrounded by other young people facing similar circumstances also helped him realize he wasn’t alone.
Four decades after arriving at the Ranch as a teenager facing an uncertain future, Sean has built a life centered on service, responsibility, family, and community.
Sean’s story reflects the mission of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches. Children do not choose the circumstances that bring them to the Ranch. But with a safe home, a stable community, the guidance of loving houseparents, and plenty of opportunities to learn, they can begin building their own future.
Sean’s advice today is simple: “You just have to make the best of it.”