Col. Gordon Clyde Southern

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Col. Gordon Clyde Southern, 86, of Steele, Mo., passed away Monday, March 25, 2013, at the Methodist Hospital in Germantown, Tenn. Col. Southern, as most called him, was born Aug. 16, 1926, in Steele to the late Gordon G. and Lorna Fitts Southern. He was united in marriage to Betty Jean Dodds Oct. 30, 1953. They had one daughter, Leigh Ann.

He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Frank James Southern.

Survivors include his wife, Betty;

One daughter, Leigh Ann Reed;

One granddaughter, Stacy Lynn Hagar and her husband, Jim;

One grandson, Kaleb Southern Reed and his wife, Kathryn;

One great-granddaughter, Hannah Elizabeth Hagar;

Two sisters, LaNell Kenley and June Fisher; and

One brother, Wayne Southern and his wife, Diane.

Clyde was a farmer and president of Southern Farm Company Inc. where he farmed rice, soybeans, wheat and corn on 2,500 acres of Bootheel land with his brother, Wayne. The Colonel served 32 years in the U.S. Army (active and reserve). He was inducted into the army as a draftee on Nov. 30, 1950, and retired as a "Full Bird" Colonel. As a Korean War veteran, he commanded a tank company in the 180th Regiment at Heartbreak Ridge, Sandbag Castle and the Punchbowl. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal for his Korean War service. During the Vietnam War, he served as ROTC Annual Formal Inspections Officer. Col. Southern also served at Fort Sill, Okla., and as Operations Officer for the U.S. Army in Europe.

In 1988 he was appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Federal Agriculture Mortgage Corporation and served in that capacity for 14 years.

A 1944 graduate of Steele High School, he received a bachelor of science degree from the University of the State of New York. He also attended David Lipscomb College. Col. Southern attended the Air War College, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces and is an honorary alumni of the University of Missouri at Columbia. Clyde also possessed a private pilot's license.

Col. Southern served his community, state and nation in many capacities: Director of the Drainage District Number One; Past President of the Pemiscot County Farm Bureau; Director of the Bootheel Resource Conservation and Development Council; a member of the University of Missouri Delta Experiment Station Advisory Board; and Chairman of the Delta Center Telecommunications Committee.

Clyde was also past president of the South Pemiscot R-V School District Board of Education. He served as the Eighth Congressional District Military Academy Review Board as well as former Pemiscot County Presiding Commissioner and chairman emeritus of the Pemiscot County Port Authority.

In 1999, the University of Missouri Board of Curators dedicated the new Telecommunications Resource Center in Portageville, Mo. as the Gordon C. Southern Telecommunications Center.

One accomplishment that Col. Southern of which he was extremely proud was his authorship of the book, "Dear Bill -- Revisit to Korea."

Funeral services were conducted Thursday, March 28, 2013, at the John W. German Funeral Home Chapel in Steele with Mr. John Mundy officiating. Burial followed, with full military honors provided by the 14th Military Police Brigade from Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Steele. John W. German Funeral Home of Steele was in charge of arrangements.

Pallbearers were John Dodds, Jim Hagar, David Haggard, James Paul Medling, Raymond Puckett, Alan Southern, Michael Southern and Van Wylie.

The family requests that memorials be sent to Mt. Zion Cemetery in Steele or to the Gordon C. Southern Telecommunications Center in Portageville.