Clyde T. Ross
July 16, 1912 - January 29, 2011
ROSS, CLYDE T. 98, OF BRANDON, FL passed away January 29, 2011. He was a WWII US Air Force veteran and served in numerous capacities in the Arkansas education system for 39 years. He was preceded in death by his wife Wilma McKelvey Ross. He is survived by his second wife Nina Jones Ross. He is also survived by a daughter Grace Ross Miller(Harold) of Edgewater MD, a son Clyde Mack Ross of Riverview, FL, two granddaughters Laura Ross Huff of Chicago, IL and Melanie London of Brandon, FL and her two children Jessica and Alex London. He was born in 1912 in his family farm house near Byron, AR. His father was Taylor Ross, and mother Jenny Martin Ross both are deceased. He was proceeded in death by all his brothers and sisters who were; Orea, Lucille , Moffett, Jerold, Ruby and Juanita Ross.
Mr. Ross graduated from the 8th grade in Byron AR in a 2 room school house with a wooden out-house for the girls and 40 acres of wooded lot out back for the boys. The school still stands as a museum, the out-house also is there but we don't know if it is functional. Eight years later at age 22 he graduated from high school. To attend high school he drove the milk wagon 13 miles to and from Salem AR, when other farm work would allow him to attend. The price of the drive to school was that he drove the truck to town loading full cans and unloaded empty cans for use at each farm.
In order to pay for college, his Principal got him a job waiting tables at a dorm at Aransas State Teachers College. He played on the basketball team as zone breaker. Any team that used a zone defense was faced with Clyde going to one spot and dropping 90% of his shots to break any zone. He graduated at age 27 and started teaching at the same 2 room school he had attended for the princely sum of $48.00 a month. He was promoted to a small school where his job was superintendent, math teacher, basketball coach and bus driver. Here he met and married Wilma McKelvey.
Shortly after his marriage, WWII started and with only one eye he joined the relatively new US Air Force. There was a call for people with math skills to learn the navigation skills needed to navigate B-29's for the daylight bombing of Germany. He was in the first class of 1200 volunteers. Almost 600 graduated and all but Clyde and the other 4 top graduates shipped out. About 50% of this class was lost over Germany.
After returning to Arkansas, he started as principal at Monticello High School then became Superintendent of Schools for Drew County and finally served as Superintendent of Schools for Monticello Schools. He helped plan the current school system. He helped guided the community through desegration with relatively few problems although there were so many nightly meetings that his son once asked his mother who was that man at the dinner table when he was actually there.
He was a long time member of the First United Methodist Church where he taught a Sunday school class for about 50 years. He was very involved in the Lions Club of Monticello for many years. After retiring he became a charter member of the Union Bank liars and coffee drinking club where all the world's problems were solved daily. To remain healthy he attempted to wear out the floor at Wal-Mart by walking at least 5 miles each day.
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