Clyde Black

Clyde Elmer Black, Sr. “graduated”* into Paradise on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. He had been a patient in the Longwood Nursing Center, in Longwood, FL for several months. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, July 22, from 6 PM – 8 PM at Shives Funeral Home, in Columbia, SC. The Memorial Service will commence on Saturday, July 23 at 11 AM at the Windsor Lake Ward, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, located 2350 White Pine Road, Columbia, SC. Interment follow at the City Cemetery in Denmark, SC.

Clyde was born on January 29, 1919, in Brooklet, Bullock County, Georgia to Talbert Burley and Mary Jane (Hutto) Black; the second child and first son in a family of nine children. Clyde grew up in Hilda and Blackville, SC, with parents who were faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Clyde was baptized near Hilda, when he was ten years old.

At 18, he joined the Civil Conservation Corp, and served for two terms. He then moved to Savannah, GA, where he met and married Sallie Lucille Brown, of Statesboro, GA, in 1939.

Clyde and Lucille were blessed with two sons: Talbert James (1940) and Clyde Elmer, Jr. (1942), both born in Savannah, GA. In early 1944, Clyde joined the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre as a crewmember aboard the SS Sea Runner. He participated in the capture and occupation of the southern Palau Islands and was awarded the Bronze Star.

Clyde was honorably discharged in 1945, and immediately re-joined the family in Denmark, SC. Before returning to Savannah, Clyde and Lucille welcomed the birth of their daughter, Audrey Elaine, born in Orangeburg, SC.

After returning to Savannah, Clyde formed a grocery partnership and a sales and delivery service of fresh meats to neighborhood grocers, before the days of super markets.

In 1951, the family moved to Columbia, SC, where Clyde was a salesman for Electrolux Corp., until 1958, when he founded Black Tile Company, a ceramic tile contracting business.

He worked faithfully in the Church throughout his life, including many years of service in Bishoprics and, from 1968 to 1977, as President of the South Carolina East Stake (now the Florence SC Stake).

After years of successfully operating his own business, Clyde retired in 1977, when he and Lucille accepted a call to serve a mission as Ordinance Workers in the Washington DC Temple. In 1978, Clyde was called as Second Counselor in the Presidency of the Washington, DC Temple. In 1981, he was called as First Counselor. In 1986, Clyde and Lucille were called to the Atlanta Temple where Clyde served as Executive Secretary and as a Sealer.

He remained happily married to Lucille for 55 years, until she “graduated”* in 1994.

In November 1994, Clyde married Ruth Edith Bell, of New Orleans, LA, who was also an Ordinance Worker in the Atlanta Temple. They continued to serve there until the summer of 1999, when they moved to South Carolina to serve in the Columbia Temple, until Clyde’s health began to falter in his 88th year.

Clyde is survived by his wife, Ruth to whom he was happily married for the past 16 years; as well as his children: Talbert J. Black, Sr. (Gloria), of Lexington, SC; C. Elmer Black, Jr. (Doris) of Clinton, MS; and A. Elaine Greene (Steven), of Lexington, SC; 10 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. He is also survived by Ruth’s children: Janet A. Avgikos, of Newburgh, NY; Thomas L. Avgikos (Elaine) of Smyrna, GA; David W. Avgikos (Marsha) of Sanford, FL; as well as Ruth’s three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Surviving siblings include his sister, Lula M. Carter, of Smoaks, SC; and his two brothers: Frankie L. Black (Dixie) of Lexington, SC, and T. Burley Black, Jr. (Mary), of Walterboro, SC.

He will ever be honored by his family, as a son who revered his parents, a faithful brother to his siblings, a devoted husband to his wives, an exemplary father and grandfather, a student of the Holy Scriptures and a committed follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. His greatest treasures were his testimony of Christ, his membership in the Church, his family and serving in the Temple. He will be cherished in the memory of his many friends as a kind, humble, and gentle mentor.

*This was a favorite expression of Clyde’s to mean that a person had fulfilled their mission here on Earth.