Clyde William Churchill, Sr.

Clyde William Churchill was born May 28th 1918 at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, in Torrington Connecticut. He was the first born of David Alvin Churchill and Katherine Agnes ( Dillon ) Churchill / Kopenkiewicz. His father was 38 years old & his mother was 35. They lived at 224 North Elm Street across the street from Union Hardware where David worked as a foreman. Union Hardware made small tools, fishing gear and most famously.. skates ( ice skates & roller skates ). Clyde’s father died in 1927 age 47, leaving behind his wife, nine year old Clyde & younger brother Edwin “Nebbie” ( age 7 ). Two years later, Katherine would marry Max Kopankiewicz who also worked at Union Hardware. He would adopt and raise the two boys but they both ( thankfully ) remained Churchills. Clyde also worked at Union ( as did Ebbie ) where he, as family lore has it, was the roller skate tester. His skating prowess caught the eye of a young Catherine Latour working on the skate assembly line. The two were married September 28th 1939 in Millerton ,NY. ( I’m sure that there is a story there ). They lived in the North Elm home according to the 1940 census, with Max & Katherine. In 1941 they were living in Torrinton in their own place ,an apartment at 49 Water street just around the block from the Warner Theater & their favorite restaurant.. The Venetian ( still open ) .

 Clyde enlisted in the service November 11th  1944  in New Haven, CT. when he was 26 years old. At the time, they had their two eldest children, June & Janice. He served in the Pacific and occupied Japan after the war ended. His Army serial number was ( 31-475-012 ). His rank was Private First Class. He was in Co B Combat Bn 3rd Engr.. His decorations were.. (  Army of Occupation Medal , Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal & World War II Voctory Medal ). He was in "continental service fo one year and in "foreign service for ten months & 17 days. He was released from active duty October 30th 1946. His first son, Clyde Jr. was born early 1949, followed by Sarah 1955 & Johnny 1957.By 1955, they were living in Bridgeport, Ct at 361 Stratford Ave ( The whole neighborhood is now gone, being recently replaced by a Bass Pro Shop ). In the mid 50’s he worked as a machine operator at Bullard’s ( now a BJ’s Food store ). He moved to Fairfield at 40 Longfellow ave, where he lived until his death in 1979. I was 16 years old when my grandfather died, but still have fond memories of him. He loved to go camping in Vermont. A park called Ascutney Mountain.. usually the same site. More often we would go camping in his native Litchfield County at a park called Black Rock State Park ( again.. the same site T3 ). We would often picnic at places like Squantz Pond in New Fairfield or Putnam Park in Redding. When at home, He loved to garden… mostly vegetables. He was particularly proud of his tomatoes. He loved to drink Budweiser and watch the  Yankees. A big treat was going to the stadium where he would say “ When I used to come here, you could park your car for 25 cents… and they would wash it while you were at the game” . He loved to eat lobster. It turned out to be the last meal he had in that summer of ’79. A giant 5 lb lobster. Believe it or not.. I still have the claw that we hollowed out and saved for almost 40 years . 

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• Residence: 1920 -  Litchfield, Connecticut, USA
• Race: White
• Ethnicity: American
• Updated from 1920 United States Federal Census by SmartCopy: Oct 23 2014, 22:32:53 UTC

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