He graduated in 1953 from Hope High School in Hope, Arkansas. Clyde served in the U. S. Army with duty in Okinawa and Korea as Survey Chief. He attended Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas; received his AA Degree from Texarkana Junior College; and earned his BBA Degree from East Texas University in Commerce, Texas. He was employed by the U. S. Postal Service in Waco, Texas as a mail carrier from 1961-1969. During this time, he attended McLennan County College taking law enforcement courses. Clyde attended Postal Inspection Service School in Bethesda, Maryland and finally completed his education with a course in Postal Inspection Service Criminal Justice in Norman, Oklahoma. As a new U.S. Postal Inspector, he was stationed in Chickasha, Oklahoma for initial assignment and training in audit work, miscellaneous criminal and civil work, and security of post offices. In 1971, Clyde was transferred to Shreveport, Louisiana to an external crimes assignment consisting of theft of mail, burglary, forgery of U. S. Treasury and State Treasury checks, armed robbery, money order cases, bomb cases, perjury cases, credit card fraud, and obstruction of justice cases. In 1977, he was promoted to a mail fraud assignment in Memphis, Tennessee where he dealt mainly with public corruption cases in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi. In 1982, Clyde was transferred to New York City, where he worked criminal cases in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island and upstate New York. He transferred back to Memphis, Tennessee, working mail fraud cases in the Northern District of Mississippi until his retirement in 1989.
Clyde was a charter member of Faith Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee; a Master Mason with the J. H. Lockwood Masonic Lodge in Waco, Texas; a member of the Louisiana Peace Officers Association in Alexandria, Louisiana; a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels; and a member of the National Association of Retired Postal Inspectors.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Benja Lu Arnold. Survivors include his daughters, LeeAnn Funderburg (Dale) of West Point, MS, Amy Tucker (Alan) of White House, TN, and Brandi Brock (Eugene) of Memphis, TN; nine grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren; one sister, Sylvia Hubbard of Texarkana, TX, along with many nieces and nephews.
There will be a graveside service on January 11, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at Memory Gardens in Hope, Arkansas.
Memorials may be made to Gideon's International.
