Clyde Den Verner

Clyde Den Verner, 89, of Manassas passed away peacefully at Inova Fairfax Hospital on January 22 after complications from surgery. Born in the small town of Postell in east Tennessee, Clyde, the middle child of eleven, worked the fields with oxen and mule, going barefoot, enjoying the pleasures and enduring the hardships of a subsistence farm. He learned to work long and hard at a variety of jobs in his youth, not only farming, but also cutting wood in a saw mill and hauling wood and coal from the time he was fourteen. He dropped out of school after eighth grade to work, but continued to teach himself a variety of skills over the years. He learned by doing and by reading voraciously. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939, working on a variety of New Deal projects in southeastern Tennessee near what he called the big towns of Ducktown and Turtletown in Polk County (with a total population of about 300). In 1942, he joined the Army at age 15, absent a birth certificate and with the help of a local doctor. He served in the China/Burma/India Theater until his honorable discharge in January, 1946. Two years later, he journeyed north to Baltimore to join his brother Glenn who was working on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. No jobs remained, but coming back through Washington he saw an ad for motormen for the D.C. Transit Company. He drove a streetcar for a year before sending for his young wife Grapel and their one-year-old son Danny. They lived in an apartment on Capitol Hill. He switched to buses as the streetcars were phased out, and one of his “holding station” stops was in front of the White House where he frequently saw Harry Truman take his daily constitutional. The family moved to College Park, Maryland after Clyde landed a job driving a gas truck for American Oil. They remained there until 1953 when they moved to Fairfax, and Clyde worked as a carpenter for Vienna Pattern Works. He became a carpenter with Fairfax County Schools a year later, and worked by himself as the system’s first locksmith, eventually overseeing a team of locksmiths. He was promoted to Supervisor of Structural Maintenance for all county schools and retired from that position in 1985. He and Grapel continued to raise beef cattle and a variety of flowers and crops on their seventeen-acre farm in Loudoun County and entertain friends and guests until she became ill and they moved to Manassas. Grapel passed away in 2007, and Clyde remained active at Manassas Baptist Church where he was a member for 43 years. During his time at the church and earlier at Fairfax Baptist he filled a number of roles: deacon, committee member and handyman. He is probably best remembered by the local church as an usher for several decades and as a proud member of the Three-Quarter Club, a “breakfast club” for 75 and over. His last years were spent at the Fairmont Retirement Community and Caton Merchant House. Clyde is survived by his son Dan and wife Becky; his son Ron and wife Sherry of Douglasville, GA; his granddaughter Amy Verner and husband Chris Magee and his granddaughter Alyssa and husband Chris Brown. He is also survived by his sisters, Dorothy Davis of Richmond, VA and Edna Marshall of Elijay, GA, and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held at Pierce Funeral Home on Friday, January 30 from 2-4 pm and 7-9 PM and the funeral will be held on Saturday, January 31 at 11 AM at Manassas Baptist Church, 8800 Sudley Rd., with Dr. William Higgins and Dr. James Vaught officiating. Burial at Stonewall Memory Gardens will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial gifts to Manassas Baptist Church or a charity of your choice.

Clyde Den Verner

March 28, 1925 - January 22, 2015