Clyde Williams

By: Christine Williams Bennett

Clyde Williams: July 15, 1917- January 17, 2016

Daddy was born at home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, on July 15, 1917. His parents were Zora Estelle Holden Williams and Calvin Dee Williams. The family home was a log cabin with no indoor plumbing. Corn, beans, and tomatoes were grown on their 128 acre farm. In addition, a herd of 100 cows was maintained. Daddy was the oldest boy in a family of nine children. He had five sisters and three brothers. Sadly, another brother, who was the last child born, passed away a few days after his birth. All of Dad’s siblings have stepped into eternity.

At the time of Daddy’s birth, Bell Buckle was a small railroad village nestled in farmland. The surrounding farms were approximately one hundred acres each. According to Daddy, the village was small. It had two grocery stores, a garage, and two dry goods stores. Most of the people living in the area farmed. Daddy once commented, “They were tough times, and no one had any money.” (Meaning his growing up years.)

Because Dad lived on a farm, he went to work at an early age! His work experiences on the farm began when he was only five years old! All of the children were expected to work! In addition, they were also expected to attend school. Daddy began his early education at Harts Chapel. Harts Chapel was a one room school with one teacher instructing children in grades one through eight. Young Clyde walked two to three miles to school each day.

Due to his mother’s influence, Daddy graduated from Bell Buckle High school in 1936, even though none of his sisters were formally educated beyond the eighth grade. While attending Bell Buckle High School, he rode a brown work horse bare back to school. The horse waited patiently tied to a tree in the back of the school while Daddy completed the school day. (The horse was probably the same one that pulled the family buggy to town.) Later with the assistance of his Aunt Della, Dad purchased a grey Ford pickup truck for the sum of seventy-five dollars. After the purchase of the truck he was able to earn one or two dollars a day by delivering milk to the creamery. His days began early because he stopped at neighboring farms, loaded full milk cans onto his truck and delivered them prior to the start of the school day!

After graduation from high school in 1936, Daddy worked for the The Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in Shelbyville, Tennessee, as a clerk and a butcher. He was employed there until he was drafted into the United States Army. He served his country from June 25, 1941, through January 5, 1946. He was deployed overseas via the Queen Mary with hundreds of other soldiers in 1945. After landing in Scotland he served as a medic with duties in France, England, and Germany. He was assigned to the front lines for one day immediately before the conclusion of the war.

It is interesting to note that Daddy rarely discussed his war experiences. When questioned, Dad stated he was scared, and the situation was” just too awful to discuss.” At one point he did mention the crowded conditions on the Queen Mary as the GIs sailed toward Scotland.

In 1942, while stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Dad met a beautiful dark haired beauty, named Beulah Ruth Houck, at a USO dance.(Interestingly, Daddy never did really learn to dance!) They fell in love and because Daddy was such a shy young soldier, Mother proposed! They were married in a small ceremony by Dr. Willis Brannock on July 15, 1943, at Gregory Memorial Baptist Church on York Road, Baltimore, Maryland.

After the war, and my birth, Mother and Daddy purchased an old very run-down seven room Victorian house in Long Green Valley. They moved from Mother’s family home in Baltimore City to the country so Daddy could have a vegetable garden. (Their restored home was later listed by the Baltimore County Historic Society.) At that time, Daddy worked for Ralph James Day, his brother-law, as a brick layer. As the years passed, Mother and Daddy had three other children-Laurie, Irene, and Clyde. Then in 1957, he and Mother had a lovely new home built at 13722 Baldwin Mill Road, Baldwin, Maryland 21013 to accommodate their growing family.

In the early fifties, Daddy opened his own business, Williams’ Grocery at 841 Belgian Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. The independent corner grocery store served the community well for eighteen years. Daddy knew his customers by name, and catered to their needs and wants. He also extended credit to families he knew had no means of paying for their groceries. He exemplified Christ in his work! Daddy worked long hours, and Mother was his accountant. As teenagers, Laurie and I took phone orders, waited on customers and drove the delivery boys around town on Saturdays. Irene and Clyde sold penny candy and ice-cream to little children. It was truly a family business with a solid work ethic!

In 1968, Daddy and Mother closed and sold the store. It was a true act of faith. Dad had no employment. Laura was in training at GBMC, and I was in college. Irene was in the eighth grade and Clyde was in the seventh grade. In spite of this family crisis, Mother and Daddy took a vacation! After a much needed rest, Daddy went to work for another grocery store in Timonium, Maryland. He eventually retired at age sixty-two.

Daddy and Mother enjoyed their retirement! They were busy serving the Lord, working in the yard, and visiting their children and their families. For approximately seventy years, Daddy was a member at the University Parkway Church of Christ. In the past, he faithfully taught adult Sunday school, ministered to others, and served in whatever capacity was needed. His great love for the Lord, His work, and His people was evident as he served others.

For many years, Daddy had a garden. All of his children learned how to pick tomatoes, corn, beans, squash and other vegetables at an early age! This hobby, kept him young during retirement! He had enough fresh vegetables from his vast garden to feed his family, neighbors, and friends. The generous supply of vegetables given to many families spoiled all the recipients long before the popularity of farm to table produce! Plus, Mother did a lot of canning!

Finally, in 2007, at the ages of eighty-eight and eighty-nine, Mother and Daddy left their beloved home in Baldwin and moved to Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Glen Arm, Maryland. By this time, Mother was very ill, and Daddy could no longer do the work required to maintain a large house with two plus acres. After residing in Baldwin for fifty years, the move was difficult and heartbreaking for them. Mother stepped into eternity on September 21, 2009, and Dad moved into Assisted Living. He and Mother had been married for sixty-six years.

Our Dad’s great faith, strength of character, courage, and kind gentle manner was an example for each of us as he has gracefully accepted and lived with the trials of old age. It has been a privilege for our entire family to share Daddy’s journey the last nine years. In spite of dementia that has robbed Daddy of the joys of the past and has made the routines of daily living a challenge, he often said, “Each day is a great day when I wake up in the morning!”

As a family, our inheritance is the example set by our Godly father–a man whose life was defined by Biblical values in word and deed, and a man who, in spite of his circumstances, continued to express his great love for his wife, his children and their spouses, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. May we, and all who come behind us, be faithful to his example and the legacy that is ours. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

AN ADDENDUM:

From: Babe (James) Gordon (Daddy’s nephew, his sister Marie’s child)

Letter Dated: March 9, 2015

Once when I was about ten years old, we got into the car and took him to Bell Buckle (Daddy) to catch a train to his army camp. Although he lived away, we always kept in touch. Mom was so happy when he came to visit. Especially the two liked to have buttermilk and bread for dinner. These things are passed, but the memories live on!

Clyde was the loving husband of Ruth H. Williams who preceded him in death on Sept. 21, 2009. He is the beloved father of Christine Williams Bennett and her husband Donald, Laura Williams Meals, Irene Williams Woods and her husband Robert, Clyde and Alison Williams; Brother of the late Marie Gordon, Carrie Forkum, Adele Phillips, Sally Mae Foster, Calvin Dee Williams, John Williams, David Williams, Mary Lou Hicks, and baby boy Williams; Cherished grandfather of Miriam Lowery and her husband Shawn, Omar Mehdi and his wife Gina, Jonathan Bennett and his wife Jennifer, Elise, Julia and Thomas Woods and his wife Sarah, Clinton Williams, Michelle Glenn and her husband Russ and the late Meredeth Lane Bennett; Also survived by 11 great grandchildren

The family will receive friends at the LEMMON FUNERAL HOME OF DULANEY VALLEY INC., 10 W. Padonia Road (at York Road) Timonium, MD 21093 on Thursday, January 21 from 10 to 12 PM at which time a interment service will be held at Parkwood Cemetery. A Memorial Service will be celebrated at the Long Green Baptist Church, 13010 Manor Road, Glen Arm, MD 21057 on Saturday, January 30 at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be directed in Mr. Williams memory to the Gilchrist Hospice Care, 11311 McCormick Road, Suite 350, Hunt Valley, MD 21031 or University Parkway Church of Christ, P.O. Box 5634, Baltimore, MD 21210.

A guest book is available at www.lemmonfuneralhome.com