Hopper Road Improvement

Paul Blue, left, of Delta, and Tony Ziegler, of Advance, finish the concrete floor of a culvert near the intersection of Hopper Rd. and Kingshighway. The photo was taken Feb. 11, 1967, and ran in The Missourian two days later. The pipe in the foreground carried water from a cofferdam through the culvert and out of the work area.

Hawthorn (now Clippard) School

The project, under contract to Superior Concretors, included grade improvements, widening the roadway to 36 feet and concrete paving from Kingshighway to the Hawthorn School. (Hawthorn School was renamed to Charles C. Clippard Elementary School in 1991. Charles Clippard retired after being principal of the school for 25 years, and with the school district for 35.

I hope Paul Blue’s name is spelled right

There were some folks down around Delta and Advance who spelled their last name “Below,” but pronounced it like “Blue.” Actually, it was more like “BaLoo,” but it was close enough in sound that I was always afraid I’d make a Blue a Below or a Below a Blue.

11 Replies to “Hopper Road Improvement”

  1. From Delta it’s likely “Below” Blue is the guy you worked for.LOL His relative Jimmy Joe Below was a one term sheriff of Cape Co.

  2. Charlie Clippard lived across the street from my childhood home…great neighbor. He grew up ‘down the road’ from Advance in the great burg of Greenbriar. I remember his stories of what it was like as a kid in the 30’s depression. He would catch carp in the Castor River and his mother would pressure cook and can them, bones and all. It was ‘poor man’s salmon’, according to him. Charlie retired to Greenbriar but commuted to Cape’s Walmart for many years, taking a job in the sporting goods department. Wonder how he is doing?

  3. Mr. Clippard is still working at Wal-Mart and seems to be doing fine. Our kids had him as principal at Hawthorn/Clippard and loved him!
    He still remembers them by name (and Bill & I, too) when we see him out anywhere!

  4. Ken, you have not written about me but I am an “Oldtimer” from Cape, 1927 til 1961, now living in Florida since 1961. At one time, Gene Schmidt and I deliverd papers to everyone who got a paper, in 1943/1945. I am proud to have been born & raised in “Cape” !
    Joe Whitright
    Palm Bay, Fla.

    1. Joe,

      How big was your paper route? When I carried papers in the mid-60s, I think I finally grew my route to be about 300 subscribers.

      I made about $24 a week, which is about half as much as the $50 I made as a reporter at The Missourian the day after graduating high school.

  5. Having grown up on Dorothy St (3rd street on right out Hopper Road from Kingshighway), this post hit very close to home (punny reference intended). Hopper was a good sledding hill from the top of the hill by Dorothy Street, all the way down to where Clippard (Hawthorn) School was built – now it would be just too busy.

    I was in the fifth grade when the school opened. Mr. Clippard was (and is) one of the most genuinely kind people I have ever met.

  6. Charles Clippard was my teacher in the 6th grade at May Green school.I played flag football and Mr. Clippard would take me home after practice. He coached football. He was always, so kind, and gracious. A true gentleman. I can see why a school was named after him.

  7. I work with Charlie Clippard at Walmart. He’s a great guy and as I’m studying to be a teacher I enjoy talking with him about what he thinks about how the state of our education system is in now. I agree with the above comments on him being a truly kind person. Mrs. Clippard always sends him to work with the most delicious looking lunches but he never shares. 😉

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