Brother Clyde

It has been just two weeks since the death of my brother, David. And last evening we
lost another brother, Clyde. He was rushed from the nursing home, where he had been trying to recuperate from a total hip replacement, to the emergency room at St. John's Hospital. He was fighting several post-op complications, and a severe infection was the cause of his death. The folks at St. John's surely did all they could possibly do to save him, but they lost the battle.

He had suffered many things over the last few years: prostate cancer, a shattered shoulder, cancer of the mouth, and then fell and broke his hip five weeks ago. I think he was exhausted from fighting the pain. On Wednesday when we visited, the nurse was with him. When she was ready to leave she asked Clyde if there was anything else he wanted. He right away answered,
"Released." Well, he has his release. No more pain. And that is good.

We will surely miss this sweet brother. Two weeks ago I wrote that David was the brother who was my buddy and playmate. Well, Clyde was my "hero" brother. He was seven years older, so that when I was a little girl, he was the hero of a big brother that I looked up to. Janie told me last night that Clyde told a story about his little sister. I don't remember this event. I must have been very young. Clyde said that I told him that I was "always going to keep him." He was then, and always has been a keeper.

I don't know, but maybe the announcement was prompted by some teasing by the other brothers. He may have been the only one I thought worth keeping at that moment. Clyde was always the kind one, the sweet one. The one you could depend on. He was the only blonde haired child in the family, and our very ornery oldest brother, Jack, always tried to convince Clyde that he was the adopted one. But Clyde was very much like our mother's family, especially his Uncle Clyde for whom he was named.

So what qualified him as a hero in my heart? Well, he was handsome. And he was smart, a very good student. He made excellent grades in school. He wrote wonderful stories. He has always had a quiet, dry sense of humor. You had to really listen to catch the essence of his wit. In my eyes as a young girl, Clyde accomplished great deeds. He was a class officer, he sang in the choral club. In college he was part of a quartet that sang on television. He was a good athlete. I remember the walls of his bedroom being covered with ribbons he won for high jump and hurdles.
His most heroic moment was being part of the Anderson High School State champion basketball team in 1946. Our whole family was able to attend all the tournament games. Now Clyde only played a half minute or so at the end of the championship game. He wasn't one of the starting seniors. But I was so excited and proud. I told everyone around me that he was my brother.

Clyde earned a scholarship to Butler University, something no one else in our family ever did. He did well in college, and came home every summer to work jobs that helped him go back to school the next year. He met and married the cutest girl at Butler, and they have been married for 55 years. He served our country in the military after graduation, earning the rank of First Lieutenant. He spent a year
on an atoll, Eniwetok, in the South Pacific, helping to clean up after A bomb tests.
He went to IU law school and became an attorney with the government small business administration. And he helped guide all of us when there were family issues that needed a clear head to make wise decisions.

I think he deserves the hero status that his little sister always granted him. I think I always told him he was my favorite brother. I think I told all four of them that. But I may have meant it just a tiny bit more with brother Clyde. I will miss his sweet smile.