Patrick Clifford

CAMPBELL, Mo. — Patrick Wayne Clifford, 83, of Campbell passed away peacefully with family by his side Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, at Campbell Healthcare and Senior Living after a brief illness.

Pat, middle son of Everett and Mildred Ramsey Clifford, was born Thursday, July 25, 1940, in Campbell.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves and the Army National Guard, and was a member of the Methodist Church in Campbell.

On May 22, 1965, in Gideon, Missouri, he was united in marriage to Shirley Jean Bentley. She preceded him in death Sept. 19, 2021.

His survivors include his daughter, Bentley (John) Utgaard of Murray, Kentucky; grandson, Edward Utgaard of Murray; and cousin/best friend, Bill Ramsey of Campbell. He also leaves behind beloved sisters- and brothers-in-law, cousins, nieces, nephews and many dear friends.

Pat was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Louis and Richard "Dick" Clifford; as well as special aunts, uncles and cousins.

Pat built a career in the trucking industry. He first worked for his father's trucking company, Clifford Transport, based in Campbell. After high school, he moved to St. Louis to work for Elfrink Truck Lines. He often recalled how he could see the Gateway Arch being constructed from their offices downtown.

He went on to attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, where he received a degree in business with a psychology minor, and where he became a lifetime member of the Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity.

He was also employed by Beaufort Transfer Co., Jones Truck Lines, Holland Motor Express and Garrison Motor Freight, among others in Arkansas and Missouri. He held a spectrum of positions over the years from driver to dispatcher to sales manager to terminal manager. He worked for Elfrink again in Cape Girardeau and retired from there in the early 2000s. He knew this region and the industry so well that, if you gave him the name of a town, he could tell you all the manufacturing companies and products and supplies produced there, and the history of its economy to boot.

Pat was an avid reader and history buff who possessed an incredible memory and capacity for storytelling. His stories and anecdotes, humorous and serious, will be missed. Above all, Pat was devoted to his family. He and Shirley would help check on his great-aunts, Floy Callahan and Eulalia Ramsey, in their twilight years, and he cared for Shirley along her journey with Alzheimer's. Recently, Pat was challenged with declining vision and mobility, but was determined to stay in the home where he felt most safe — the home built by his grandfather, Silas Ramsey, in 1912.

The family wishes to express its gratitude for those who checked on him regularly, his friends who picked him up every day to go to lunch at Campbell Nutrition Center so he could converse with the "Knights of the Round Table", and those who helped him maintain his home and yard. Thank you also to the health care professionals who saved what little sight he had left, as well as those who cared for him in his last weeks.

Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30, at Landess Funeral Chapel in Campbell, with a funeral service officiated by Legacy Hospice Chaplain Jim Davis starting at 2 p.m. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Campbell.