Individual Details
Clarence Ottis Lightfoot
(January 23, 1917 - October 28, 1977)
"How can I best describe this man with whom I experienced thirty six happy years of marriage? I was 14 when I met him, 16 when I married him. He is the inspiration for my research of the Lightfoot family history. I had much information on my own family lines, thanks to extensive research done by my cousin David Trimble. It occurred to me that I would like to know more of the Lightfoot family, especially for my children and their children.
"Clarence was an extremely handsome man, and I about swooned the first time I saw him. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, perfect white teeth, and a ready smile and friendly manner. He was built like pictures you see of male models in catalogs, wide shoulders, narrow waist and hips, just what a man should look like, and I was very quickly smitten. We courted in his Model A Ford for about one and a half years and were married in May 1941. Clarence was already registered for the draft, as were all the young men, and we lived with his parents, with whom he was farming, until the draft board called him up in September. We had married at the end of my junior year of high school, and I had promised my parents I would graduate, and I attended high school for all of my senior year as a married woman. Most of that year Clarence was in the army, as he had to leave shortly after school started.
"Clarence was in the army four years and two months, and spent close to a year in Germany just as the war was winding down. Prior to that he had been stationed in Seattle, Washington, and soon after I graduated from high school I joined him in Seattle. His sister Melba and her husband were in the Seattle area in defense work, and I lived with them until we could get into a low income apartment. We felt very fortunate and blessed that we had about two and one half years together in Seattle, before he was ordered to Europe. Our son Dick was born while we were in Seattle, and I was pregnant with Linda when he went to Europe and I went back to Texas to my parents to wait it all out. We survived on letters, since none of our families had telephones, and I still have a few of those letters from him. I wrote to him every night, and he was better than most men about writing, I heard from him three or four times a week. The most exciting communication was in the form of a telegram from him stating that he was back in the states and headed for Camp Fannin, Texas to be discharged and would see me soon. He was honorably discharged November 27, 1945. While in the army he had done Military Police work, Heavy Truck Driver duty, and was in the infantry part of the time.
"As a civilian again, Clarence wanted to farm, but the opportunity did not present itself, so he worked at whatever was available. We built a small house in Earth, Texas near where his parents had moved to while he was in the army. We were there until January 1951, when we decided to move to Oakland, California near where his sister Melba and Mark lived. But by September 1951 we headed back to Texas. It was a restless time of life for us. Clarence got his chance to farm in 1952 near Earth, Texas, and we lived on the farm until January 1956, when we again decided we liked California and headed that way again. This time we stayed in Hayward, California for about twenty two years.
"He was baptized 19 May 1946 in Springlake, Lamb County, Texas. While in Hayward, we were very active in the Church of Christ, and Clarence became an elder in a small congregation called the Harvey Avenue Church of Christ in Hayward. Clarence was an elder for several years, and after he was no longer an official elder, he still remained very active in the leadership and in teaching until his death.
"Clarence worked in several different capacities during our years in California. He worked in shipyards, at service stations, at one time he and our son Dick owned two Gulf Service stations, he and a friend had a used furniture store for awhile. He liked flea markets, antique stores, and developed a love for antique furniture. He would buy a piece of old furniture and repair and refinish it, and sell it for a profit. He was a "horse trader" by nature, and enjoyed that sort of thing very much.
"Clarence had a very close and affectionate relationship with my parents and my brothers and their families. He always told me that when and if my parents ever needed special care, we would pull up stakes and go to them and care for them. That situation occurred in the summer of 1977, and he was true to his word on that. We sold everything and moved back to Texas in August of 1977 shortly after my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Clarence was also having some difficulties by that time, but we did not suspect that his ailments were of a serious nature. Tests showed that he was free of any cancer in his system, so the doctors were looking for ulcers or something of that nature. In all, he had four tests for cancer, and all of them showed no cancer in his system. My mother lived until September 27, 1977, and at that time Clarence was still up and going and helping however he could, but he was feeling pretty bad by then. In mid October an exray showed a dark spot in his colon, and since cancer had been ruled out, the doctor suggested he have surgery to see what was there and correct it. When they opened him up they found extensive cancer all over his intestines, and the outer lining of his stomach was totally covered with cancer. What a shock! He lived about two weeks and did not leave the hospital. He died on October 28, 1977, just one month after my mother died. He is buried in Colorado City in Mitchell County, Texas in the Hestand family plot with my parents. At this writing it has been eighteen years, and I still miss him terribly.
"He was a good Christian man, a good husband, a good father, and a good friend to many people. He left his mark on this world, and it is a good mark. I hope to be reunited with him someday in that better place where he has gone." (Mary Lightfoot, 1998.)
"Clarence was an extremely handsome man, and I about swooned the first time I saw him. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, perfect white teeth, and a ready smile and friendly manner. He was built like pictures you see of male models in catalogs, wide shoulders, narrow waist and hips, just what a man should look like, and I was very quickly smitten. We courted in his Model A Ford for about one and a half years and were married in May 1941. Clarence was already registered for the draft, as were all the young men, and we lived with his parents, with whom he was farming, until the draft board called him up in September. We had married at the end of my junior year of high school, and I had promised my parents I would graduate, and I attended high school for all of my senior year as a married woman. Most of that year Clarence was in the army, as he had to leave shortly after school started.
"Clarence was in the army four years and two months, and spent close to a year in Germany just as the war was winding down. Prior to that he had been stationed in Seattle, Washington, and soon after I graduated from high school I joined him in Seattle. His sister Melba and her husband were in the Seattle area in defense work, and I lived with them until we could get into a low income apartment. We felt very fortunate and blessed that we had about two and one half years together in Seattle, before he was ordered to Europe. Our son Dick was born while we were in Seattle, and I was pregnant with Linda when he went to Europe and I went back to Texas to my parents to wait it all out. We survived on letters, since none of our families had telephones, and I still have a few of those letters from him. I wrote to him every night, and he was better than most men about writing, I heard from him three or four times a week. The most exciting communication was in the form of a telegram from him stating that he was back in the states and headed for Camp Fannin, Texas to be discharged and would see me soon. He was honorably discharged November 27, 1945. While in the army he had done Military Police work, Heavy Truck Driver duty, and was in the infantry part of the time.
"As a civilian again, Clarence wanted to farm, but the opportunity did not present itself, so he worked at whatever was available. We built a small house in Earth, Texas near where his parents had moved to while he was in the army. We were there until January 1951, when we decided to move to Oakland, California near where his sister Melba and Mark lived. But by September 1951 we headed back to Texas. It was a restless time of life for us. Clarence got his chance to farm in 1952 near Earth, Texas, and we lived on the farm until January 1956, when we again decided we liked California and headed that way again. This time we stayed in Hayward, California for about twenty two years.
"He was baptized 19 May 1946 in Springlake, Lamb County, Texas. While in Hayward, we were very active in the Church of Christ, and Clarence became an elder in a small congregation called the Harvey Avenue Church of Christ in Hayward. Clarence was an elder for several years, and after he was no longer an official elder, he still remained very active in the leadership and in teaching until his death.
"Clarence worked in several different capacities during our years in California. He worked in shipyards, at service stations, at one time he and our son Dick owned two Gulf Service stations, he and a friend had a used furniture store for awhile. He liked flea markets, antique stores, and developed a love for antique furniture. He would buy a piece of old furniture and repair and refinish it, and sell it for a profit. He was a "horse trader" by nature, and enjoyed that sort of thing very much.
"Clarence had a very close and affectionate relationship with my parents and my brothers and their families. He always told me that when and if my parents ever needed special care, we would pull up stakes and go to them and care for them. That situation occurred in the summer of 1977, and he was true to his word on that. We sold everything and moved back to Texas in August of 1977 shortly after my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Clarence was also having some difficulties by that time, but we did not suspect that his ailments were of a serious nature. Tests showed that he was free of any cancer in his system, so the doctors were looking for ulcers or something of that nature. In all, he had four tests for cancer, and all of them showed no cancer in his system. My mother lived until September 27, 1977, and at that time Clarence was still up and going and helping however he could, but he was feeling pretty bad by then. In mid October an exray showed a dark spot in his colon, and since cancer had been ruled out, the doctor suggested he have surgery to see what was there and correct it. When they opened him up they found extensive cancer all over his intestines, and the outer lining of his stomach was totally covered with cancer. What a shock! He lived about two weeks and did not leave the hospital. He died on October 28, 1977, just one month after my mother died. He is buried in Colorado City in Mitchell County, Texas in the Hestand family plot with my parents. At this writing it has been eighteen years, and I still miss him terribly.
"He was a good Christian man, a good husband, a good father, and a good friend to many people. He left his mark on this world, and it is a good mark. I hope to be reunited with him someday in that better place where he has gone." (Mary Lightfoot, 1998.)
Events
| Birth | January 23, 1917 | Joshua, Johnson County, Texas | |||
| Marriage | May 24, 1941 | Roby, Fisher County, Texas - Mary Beth Hestand | |||
| Death | October 28, 1977 | Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas | |||
| Burial | October 31, 1977 | Colorado City Cemetery, Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas |
Families
| Spouse | Mary Beth Hestand (1925 - ) |
| Child | Clarence Richard "Dick" Lightfoot (1943 - ) |
| Child | Linda Beth Lightfoot (1945 - ) |
| Father | Earnest Oliver Lightfoot (1888 - 1965) |
| Mother | Stella Mae Conway (1889 - 1968) |