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\u201cThe principal came to me and said, \u2018Several people in the community want you to drive the school bus.\u2019 I\u2019d never driven a 440 Chevy truck except once while the driver rolled a cigarette after he dropped off his load. But I applied and got the job. At the bus garage, I found the bus number they gave me and just got in and played with the gears a little bit, drove it off easy, and practiced changing gears,\u201d said Clifton, as calmly as he surely drove away from that garage. It was a job he held until he left to serve two years in the U.S. Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, my family started a church in the community, at that age. My twin sisters, a younger sister, and I got a quartet up and would go to all-day singings. Daddy said he\u2019d arrange transportation for us as long as we \u2018kept our nose clean.\u2019 I led singing in church and taught Sunday school when I was 16. We had a good church and a good time. We were the only family, about 4 miles North and about 6 miles South, that didn\u2019t use alcohol in some way. When we moved away there were several families that didn\u2019t [use alcohol]. They had a good thriving church the last time I saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clifton met his wife, Marian, singing at a Florida church. Dating led to marriage. Clifton’s safety on his job, installing radio towers, caused his wife great concern, as did the drugs beginning to come into the schools, something she saw firsthand through her work in Florida\u2019s school system. Clifton\u2019s job was to climb the towers that he repaired and maintained that were as tall as 370 feet, and those that he installed that were up to 240 feet tall. The hope of safer work for him and a safe community for their growing family prompted a move away from their home just outside of Orlando. Clifton longed to return to a farm like in his childhood days. He set out in 1972 in search of something in their budget and found 235 acres in Coffee County near Shady Grove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon the self-taught carpenter constructed a new home and a new life for their family. Santa Gertrudis cattle grazed his farm for many years, earning Clifton four grand championships at the Coffee County Fair. The good-looking breed was a novelty in the area, and Clifton and his farm became known for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His agricultural connections continued to blossom around his Tennessee home. Their fresh-cut flowers of all shapes, colors, and sizes, together with bananas and songs, were delivered weekly by the Cliftons to area hospitals and nursing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now unable to garden, Clifton proved he\u2019s never too old for novelty when his neighbor, Ken Mifsud, introduced him to a unique flower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clifton and his daughter, Linda Cunningham, explained. \u201cThe corpse plant [sometimes called the voodoo flower] is a stinking plant when it blooms, and I have smelled the blooms. It\u2019s not a pleasant smell,\u201d Clifton said. \u201cSome people say they smell like roadkill that’s been out on the road for a few days during summertime,\u201d added Cunningham. But Clifton disagrees. \u201cThat\u2019s a little exaggerated, I think,\u201d he said. Clearly, a sense of humor is one secret to his long life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first blooms come three to five years after it\u2019s planted. It\u2019s one big bloom, a deep maroon. The bloom lasts about a week, and the smell lasts for three to four days,\u201d said Cunningham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the conversation always returns to faith and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are five children and their spouses: Minanette and Gray Warren of Alabama; Merry and Paul Adams of Smyrna; Cread Clifton (Clif), Jr., and wife, Tamela of Gallatin; Linda Cunningham, who lives with her father in Coffee County; and Sheila and Tom Webb of Cookeville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are living testimonies of Clifton\u2019s advice to all ages.\u201cGet in church and go because you love the Lord. Go to church regularly, not to be seen, but because of the good of it. And children should obey their parents. I never, never sassed my mother or father a time in my life that I know of. They raised us to go to church,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the true secret to his long life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI give God the credit for being the age I am and still being able to get around like I do. They won\u2019t let me drive anymore, but I think I can beat any of the family driving. I have a good family and told people at times I have as good a family as there are, I believe. Everyone\u2019s in church; we\u2019ve always been a very close, tight-knit family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s a fragrance you don\u2019t have to hold your nose for. GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Near Shady Grove, Cread Clifton’s corpse flower is just one of many unique plants in his extensive flower gardens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC_0969-2-683x1024.jpg\")