Charles Clifton

Charles H. Clifton, 88, Upper Yoder, passed away on June 12, 2025. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Charles Harold Clifton, Sr. and Rena Louise, his big sister Patty Clifton Sickels and his brother-in-law Edward. He is survived by his loving family, wife Gladys, son Charles and his wife Donna, daughter Sue Clifton, grandson CJ Clifton, nephew Patrick Walter, nieces Barb, Carol and Joann, grandniece Jessie and her daughter, Abby and grandnephew Jeremy. Charles graduated as Salutatorian at Center Moriches High School on Long Island, NY, then arrived unannounced and with no money at the University of Iowa, where he found work and eventually earned a Ph.D. in English. He also met, fell deeply in love with and married Gladys Walter, a clear-eyed, intelligent woman who became his wife of 65 years. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honorary fraternity and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honorary fraternity as well. He taught English Literature and Creative Writing in Iowa, San Bernardino, California, and for 30 years at UPJ. His playwriting students put on an annual one-act festival, Golgonooza, which produced some very memorable works. Charles received a Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1985. His prize-winning one-act play, "Cowboy Love," was produced in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. He published a smattering of poems, some of them national prize winners. Charles was for many years an Executive Board Member and Life Member of the NAACP. He enjoyed reading, writing, working out at the Y, walking his dog (the late, great beagle, Lucky) and the companionship of his wife, Gladys and his faithful cat Chico. He believed in the as yet unrealized dream of a democratic America, where all people are created equal and deserve equal opportunities. Friends will be received Thursday from 2:00-4:00, followed by a reception at 4:30 at the Boulevard Grill. His grandson CJ wrote this poem about him:

What a Wonderful Thing
Man and Dog, out on their morning constitutional
Man stops and stoops toward a stump.
What a wonderful thing, says Man to Dog
What a wonderful thing it is to see this stump.
What a wonderful thing that my eyes can collect this
Message in color and shape and depth and project it into my mind.
What a wonderful thing that the moss on this gnarled stump can take death and make from it life.
What a wonderful thing it is to breathe this
Shallow breath of chemicals and stardust and take away sustenance.
What a wonderful thing that these chemicals and stardust have all drifted into my
Lungs from far away alien worlds.
What a wonderful thing that the matter that makes me up now is not even slightly the same as
The matter that made me up just years ago.
What a wonderful thing that in the grand scale of time
Itself, the Earth itself is but an incomprehensible blip.
What a wonderful thing that forces that attached this stump
To this soil and this soil to the Erath and this Earth to this Sun are the same
Forces that drive these thoughts out of my head.
What a wonderful thing to live life wandering toward uncertainty with no guidance
But the nose of your dog and the stars in the sky.
What a wonderful thing that I can breathe the breath of the trees and they mine.
What a wonderful thing that time tiptoes ever so gently along the crackling ice of paradox.
What a wonderful thing to live as I have .
What a wonderful thing to live as I still will
What a wonderful thing it is to close your eyes and taste your meal.

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