09/08/2026
Clyde invited a woman he’d just met to go sailing. She actually showed up. Fifty-seven years later, she’s still his wife.
Clyde met his wife in her cousin’s garage, which happened to be right next to his church.
He invited her to go sailing with him.
She said yes.
And apparently, it was a pretty good first date.
They’ve now been married for 57 years.
But Clyde’s life has taken him much farther than that first sailing trip.
Growing up in New Jersey and New York, Clyde eventually found his calling in two places: the church and the classroom. For more than 30 years, he worked as both a pastor and a teacher.
For Clyde, being a pastor was about getting to share his faith with other people. That calling eventually took him around the world as a missionary and teacher, including time in Ukraine, Russia and Poland.
Of all the places his work took him, Ukraine holds a particularly special place in his memory.
He loved the people he met there and especially remembers his time working at a Bible institute, where he had the opportunity to teach and share the faith that had become such an important part of his own life.
But for all the people Clyde taught over the years, there were three people he was especially determined to show up for.
His children.
Clyde and his wife raised two sons and a daughter, and when he talks about being a father, what matters most to him is that he was there.
“I loved being a present father. I was around them all the time.”
One of his favorite memories isn’t a big vacation or milestone.
It’s a tree.
When the family lived in Florida, there was an enormous old tree outside their home. His children had a treehouse in it and spent their time climbing its branches and playing together.
Clyde remembers simply watching them.
Watching them climb. Watching them play. Watching how happy they were just being kids together.
More than 30 years of teaching and ministry took Clyde across countries and introduced him to countless people. But some of the memories that stayed with him most happened much closer to home—watching three kids play in an old tree and building a life with the woman who actually showed up when he asked her to go sailing.
In 2026, Clyde began another new chapter when he moved to Tennessee.
But after 57 years of marriage, three children, decades in the classroom and church, and a life that carried him from New York to Eastern Europe and eventually Tennessee, Clyde still seems to know what has mattered most along the way:
Faith, family, and being present for both.
This is Clyde. This is .
Follow along as we get to know more of the incredible Humans of The Waters. 💙
