Clyde Holder Walter Clyde Holder, 94, of Florence, left these earthy bounds to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Tuesday, Dec. 3. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. today at Elkins Funeral Home in Florence. The service will follow at 1 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Interment, with military honors, will be held at Hillcrest Cemetery, Haleyville, Ala., at 3 p.m. The Rev. Bobby Stone will officiate. Dr. Ed Barney, former superintendent of the Florence City Schools, and Jim Langcuster, Holder's son-in-law, will also speak. A native of Winston County, Holder was a 1940 graduate of Haleyville High School, where he lettered in all sports and served as the football team quarterback. He was initiated into the Winston County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. Shortly after graduation, Holder was offered an opportunity by his employer, the Haleyville Textile Corporation, to attend Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) to study textile engineering. However, fate would take a different turn when he and millions of men were called to serve in World War II. He was drafted in the U.S. Army and served as an infantryman in the North African, Sicilian, Italian, southern French, German and Austrian operational theaters. Holder, who ended the conflict a staff sergeant, was a heavily decorated combat soldier, earning the Silver Star with oak leaf clusters, two Bronze Starts, the French Republic's Croix de Guerre, and the Combat Infantry Badge, to name a few. He was one of only two members of his platoon to survive the war. He was one of the World War II veterans featured in the Alabama Public Television documentary, "World War II Remembers." After his discharge, Holder returned to Alabama and married the former Ossie Stone, of Haleyville. Availing himself of the Serviceman's Adjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, Holder earned a B.S. in Biology from Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) and a M.A. in School Administration from George Peabody Institute. He also completed coursework toward his doctorate. Holder was employed as a principal at Crooked Oak School and later as a math teacher at Weeden School before he was hired in 1966 by the Florence City Schools to serve as plant supervisor, a position he held until 2000, when he retired at 80. In this position, Holder supervised the massive expansion of the school's physical plant over the next three decades. Holder was an active member of Central Baptist Church and, later, Highland Baptist Church. He served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and superintendent. He will always be remembered for his sunny disposition, his unbounded optimism, his immense personal courage, his work ethic, his strong personal faith and, most significant of all, his abiding love for his family. He is survived by his daughter, Jane, and her husband, Rick Almond, of Florence; his daughter, Beth, and her husband, Jim Langcuster, of Auburn; and granddaughters, Katie Almond, of Brentwood, Tenn., Sarah Beth Langcuster, of Tuscaloosa, and Margaret Langcuster, of Auburn; and numerous nieces and nephews. The family would like to express special thanks to and deep affection for physician and friend Dr. Lyman Mitchell, and caregivers, Ashley Maner, Betsy Campbell, Jessi Poyner and Anna Bates, who provided Holder with superlative care in the last years of his life. Pallbearers will be Rick Almond, Tim Crumpton, Ronald Crumpton, Bobby King, John King, Will King and Jim Langcuster. Ed Barney, Oscar Duke, Eugene King, and Frank Holder will serve as honorary pallbearers. Published in Florence Times Daily on Dec. 5, 2013, Florence, Lauderdale, Alabama.