Cloyd Oscar Dodd
The family of Cloyd Oscar Dodd is saddened to announce that
Cloyd passed away gently in his sleep on the evening of Veterans Day, November
11, 2017. Born on May 9, 1922 in the vicinity of Biardstown (a small town close
to Paris), Lamar County, Texas, Cloyd was the son of George Oscar Dodd and Lucy
Towers Dodd. He was the youngest of eight children. His brothers and sisters,
all of whom predeceased him, were Jewell (Dodd) Melton, Buell (Dodd) Gordon,
Buena (Dodd) King, Clara (Dodd) Gordon, Lleo Braydon Dodd, Nona (Dodd) Petty,
and Verbie Woodrow Dodd. In his early years, Cloyd lived with his older brother
Lleo and his wife Pauline. Cloyd married his childhood sweetheart, Margaret
Louise Pierce of Biardstown, the daughter of Frank and Effie Pierce and sister
of Donald and Carl, on September 10, 1938.
Cloyd and Louise moved from Biardstown to Greenville in 1940.
Cloyd served in the Army of the United States from May 25, 1943 to January 21,
1946. He was a member of the 145th Army Airways Communication Systems
Squadron, and fought in the South Pacific. Cloyd was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign Medal with 1 Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, and World War II Victory
Medal.
Following his return to Greenville from the South Pacific,
Cloyd and Louise had two children, both born in Greenville: Larry Cloyd
(December 11, 1946) and David Michael (January 22, 1950). Cloyd moved his family
to Iowa Park, Wichita County, Texas in the summer of 1959 after he began work
for The American Chicle Company, which Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical Company
later acquired. Both Cloyd and Louise were devoted parents. While Louise took
care of ‘the boys’ and the household, Cloyd loved the role of traveling
salesman, building an award-winning forty year career culminating in his work
with Warner Lambert. Yet he made sure to be home for his sons’ band concerts
(Larry) and football games (Mike). They were all devoted members of the First
Baptist Church. Cloyd retired from Warner Lambert in 1984.e move
In addition to their two children, Cloyd and Louise had five
grandchildren and one great-grandson. The five grandchildren are Meredith and
Christopher (children of Larry and his first wife, Cheryl Staats); and Rachel,
Adrienne and John (children of Michael and his wife Mary Jacobi Dodd).
Currently, Cloyd and Louise’s only great-grandchild is Andrew Wotman, the son of
Meredith and her husband, Jon Wotman.
Cloyd and Louise both lived to see Larry and Mike finish high
school in Iowa Park and then complete their college and post-graduate degrees.
Larry today serves as a professor of political science at the University of
Florida. Michael today practices law with Dodd & Batla, P.C. in Austin,
Texas. Louise and Cloyd often remarked on what an extraordinary experience it
had been for two depression-era rural kids with eighth grade educations to raise
a professor and a lawyer. Louise would have been as happy as Cloyd was that all
five grandchildren have likewise finished college and found a diverse array of
professional career paths (Meredith in Chicago; Christopher in Denver; Rachel in
San Francisco; Adrienne in Taiwan; and John in Memphis). And while
great-grandson Andy is still in grade school, he is a budding musician with an
active curiosity in many areas.
After spending their early years in Lamar County and
Greenville, Cloyd and Louise spent the majority of their marriage in Iowa Park.
Larry and Michael continue to
consider Iowa Park as their 'hometown’. Throughout their years in Iowa Park,
they frequently returned to Paris and Greenville for visits. In Paris
they would stay with Louise’s brother Carl and his wife Linda, and in Greenville
with Cloyd’s brother Verbie and his first wife, Lorene, and later with Verbie
and his second wife, Winnie, after Lorene’s death. Verbie and Cloyd particularly
loved spending time together fishing. Louise died on June 2, 1990.
On the morning of his death Cloyd was visited at the Veterans
Home in Bonham by Michael, Mary, and Cloyd’s nephew from Paris, Lleo’s son
Travis Dodd, and was connected by phone with Larry. The family is thankful that
Cloyd was surrounded by family before dying in his sleep that evening. His was
truly a life well-lived.
There will be a time for visiting with the family on Friday, November 24, 2017 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Coker Mathews Funeral Home, 5100 Interstate 30, Greenville, Texas 75402. The funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church, 207 S. Church Street, Paris, Texas 75460 with the Rev. Ken Cannon officiating. Cloyd will be buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Paris, Texas. Obituary Provided By: |