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FEATURE FOR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2002
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Clifton Cruse Recalls Life's Simple Pleasures |
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Clifton Cruse has called Mixie home ever since he was born
in the rural community on November 10, 1937. The second of
five children in his farm family of three boys and two
girls, he attended school through the eighth grade,
finishing up at Cannon School. He stayed on at the farm
until he was 17 or 18, working "here and there," he says
of jobs he took at a service station, lumber shed, and
more, even moving to Mississippi for a few months.
It was 1959 when he started working for the Carroll County
Bus Shop, a job he has held through six Carroll County
School Superintendents right up to the present day, save
two years he spent in the Army when he was drafted in
July, 1961.
He started off as a mechanic, a self-taught skill that got
its start with an old Chevrolet car he owned. "The old
thing got to where it wouldn't start," he said. He took it
to the Chevrolet dealership where he was told, "Son, it
ain't never going to crank no more 'til it's overhauled."
He took the car home and "took to messing with it." An
adjustment of the points had the engine firing again.
Figuring "if they didn't know no more than that" he could
do as well on his own, he began tinkering with the engine
and learned the skill that became his trade.
1959 marked the beginning of another long-term investment
when he met a pretty, petite young lady named Wilma at a
dairy bar in Rowden. Dating eventually led to marriage on
January 28, 1961.
The couple had been married for just six months when
Clifton was called to serve his country in the U.S. Army.
After basic training, he was stationed at Fort Bragg North
Carolina where he had one question. "I asked where could I
get a five-day pass to get my wife," he grinned.
It was an enjoyable detour from life at home. "I wouldn't
want to go through it again but I wouldn't take nothing
for it," he says today.
Having moved up from his job as mechanic to
transportation supervisor in 1979, his efficiency on the
job these days extends to supervising all the buses,
mechanics and routes, training the bus drivers, purchasing
parts and writing the specifications for new buses, plus
filling in as driver when needed. The small office he
shares with Transportation Clerk Wanda Williams is crowded with county maps and charts,
while the walls boast of awards and training certificates
as well as colorful pictures of school bus scenes drawn by
children.
He attends to a phone call about a potential problem with
patience and caring, then sheepishly admits he wishes his
wife could help fill in the blanks with some of their life
events.
Later, at home, a different Clifton presents himself. Away
from the bustle of the workplace, he relaxes in his
recliner in the lovely, comfortable home he and his wife
built when they returned to Mixie from the service in
1963. He and Wilma fit together like two peas in a pod,
and the other peas - their two daughters and husbands and
their two grandbabies - fit as nicely into the loving
family-oriented atmosphere when they come to visit.
The couple's first daughter, Wendy, was born on September
8, 1965, with Marcia following four years later on the 5th
of December. "I've always said our kids had more stability
than most children," Wilma laughs. "They grew up in the
same house 'til the time they moved out, their dad had the
same job, and they went to the same church." Clifton has
been a deacon in the Henry Baptist Church since 1978.
Living all the way in Mixie, however, kept her running at
a hectic pace when the girls were growing up. "If we'd
known how high gas was going to get we might have built
somewhere else," she says, allowing that she spent so much
time on the road for band, piano lessons, softball and
other sports and school functions that she met herself
"coming and going." Reminiscing that gas cost 25 cents per
gallon when they built their home, Clifton recalled as
well that the cost of buses has gone from around $6,000.00
to $54,000.00.
Concerning his job, Clifton says, "I've enjoyed my work
for the county; it's been good to me." He has been good
for the county as well, serving as Director of the
Tennessee Association for Pupil Transportation in the
western district for two terms. He was also invited to
attend the National Standards Conference on School
Transportation three times during his tenure (in 1985,
1990 and 1995) and to Southeastern State Conferences on
several occasions, giving the couple a chance to extend
the business trips with vacation time in order to enjoy
visits to a number of states through the years.
Friday, April 12, marked a milestone for Clifton as his
first time driving a school bus since enduring a broken
leg that kept him from behind the wheel for 13 months. He
was working on a security light outside his home from a
ladder he had leaned against the light pole when he knew
he was about to fall.
"When he heard the crack, he thought if he could just jump
clear of the ladder he'd be alright," Wilma related.
He had no pain other than a burning sensation when he
struck the ground. "I've sprung my ankle," he thought, but
looking down, he saw that his foot was twisted at an odd
angle from his leg, and realized he had a bad break. His
sympathetic black Labrador whined and cried but was little
support for Clifton, who was unable to get the attention
of Wilma from inside the house. He was trying to crawl
closer when she discovered his predicament and ran for
help.
After a year of wheelchairs, walkers and crutches, he was
on his own for four weeks when a driver requested time
off. "I decided I'd just go ahead and do it," he said,
while Wilma claimed, smiling, "He was itching to get back
( to driving the buses) anyway."
Working at the bus shop, Clifton says, showed him the
importance of education and aligned his goals toward
ensuring his children were able to attend college. "We
wanted to make sure the girls got an education and I think
we've accomplished that," he said.
Wilma agreed, "Our main focus has been our children; to
make sure they got an education and joined the church.
That's why I went to work," she continued. She had worked
up until a month before Wendy was born, then had odd jobs
now and then before becoming employed at what is now the H.O.P.E. Center in Huntingdon in 1983. "I came in here
with a goal in mind: to send my two girls to school," she
said firmly.
Clifton worked hard as well, outside his duties as
transportation supervisor staying busy in his automotive
shop at home where he worked on cars, trucks and tractors
up until his injury last year.
Their hard work and influence paid off. Wendy earned a
degree in office occupations at Murray State University
and Marcia earned her BS in elementary education at Martin
plus a master's degree in elementary and special education
from Bethel College.
"We had no doubt what Marcia was going to do," the couple
agrees, "From the time she was old enough to talk and know
there was such a thing as a teacher she knew that's what
she wanted to do." Today, Marcia teaches fourth grade math
at West Carroll and lives in Huntingdon with husband
Michael Miller. Wendy is the office manager of the Walker
and Walker law firm in Lexington where she lives with her
husband Michael Bromley and their two daughters, Morgan
Michele and Candace Shea.
In their spare time, both Clifton and Wilma enjoy yard
work and gardening, while Clifton especially enjoys
feeding the fish in his catfish-stocked pond with his
grandchildren.
For many busy years, the pond was a dream he shared with
his mother. "I talked about building that pond a long
time," he said with a touch of melancholy. "Mom used to
say, 'You build it and I'll stock it,' but I waited too
long."
His parents were killed in a car accident in January 1987
at the ages of 72 and 65. The time he missed at the pond
with his parents he makes up in the enjoyment of his
grandchildren, with his lawn mower doubling as a tractor
to pull a small wagon loaded with children and catfish
feed down to the pond.
"I didn't think they would like it," Wilma says wide-eyed,
concerning their grandchildren " but they get so excited
when the fish come to the surface with their mouths open."
Feeding catfish is a treat for anyone, seeing the water
come alive with teeming fish when handfuls of food are
thrown into the water. It's a sight fishermen like
son-in-law Mike find hard to resist, though Clifton admits
he hasn't spent as much time fishing as he had meant to.
"It's done got to the point now where I'd rather feed them
than catch them," he says with a grin.
"We've lived a pretty clam, pretty simple life," Clifton
says. It's a serenity that echoes throughout the years of
life in the Cruse household, a contentment that is fed by
their sharing and kindness to others.
Just one example of their selfless consideration was shown
over a 25-year period during which they were more than
neighbors to Mrs. Chloe Massey, who lived alone down the
street from the Cruses. "She was just a fine lady,"
Clifton says fondly.
In later years, the Cruses provided Mrs. Massey with
transportation to the doctor and hospital, and kept a fire
going in her home around the clock while she was away from
home. They took her groceries and when the electricity was
out for a week one winter they shared with her the coffee
they brewed on a kerosene heater and took supper to her in
the evenings.
Wilma enjoyed remembering that Mrs. Massey had outlived a
fortune teller's prediction that she would live to be 82
or 83 years old. "The Bible tells us nobody knows the
future," Wilma consoled Mrs. Massey when the predicted
years rolled around. When she had outlived the prophecy by
a couple of years, Mrs. Massey admitted, "That fortune
teller didn't know what she was talking about."
Memories mingled with the sweetness of love and family
make today a special time for the Cruses. "We've had a
wonderful life," Wilma says with tears in her eyes, "We've
had some hard times but we're thankful to God for his
blessings."
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Phone (731) 352-3323 or Fax (731)
352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
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