Clifford Hoover

(From Konantz Warden Funeral Home)

Clifford Todd Hoover passed away on Monday May 31, 2021. He was born on March 7, 1929, in Nevada, MO to Arlie and Vera (Perrin) Hoover. He went to Shiloh School for eight years, then started high school at Liberal, MO, where he graduated in 1947. 

After graduation, he worked at the Lumber Yard in Liberal, until he went into the Army in August 1952. He served in the Army until August 1954, at Fort Belvoir, VA, where he was discharged. He went to Nebraska where he worked on a farm for six years before returning to Liberal where he worked for a farmer for a while. 

Clifford then went to work for the City of Liberal Light and Water Department where he worked for twenty-five years, retiring in 1990. 

On May 5, 1972, he was going home from lunch when he was hit by a train on the edge of Liberal. Through this incident he met Virginia Neuenschwander and married her on December 30, 1972. They remained living and working on her farm in rural Liberal for over 40 years. He was a member of the Hannon Free Will Baptist Church in Liberal, MO for the majority of his life. 

Clifford is survived by his stepchildren, Linda Rose of Lansing, MI, Elaine McAdams of Lamar, MO, and Ed Neuenschwander of Diamond, MO; grandchildren, Juli Anna Tanner Millmont, PA and Isaac McAdams, of Lamar, MO; and many loving nieces and nephews. 

He is preceded in death by his wife; parents; stepdaughter, Anna Marie Bowerman; siblings, Howard Hoover, Mildred Blythe, Gladys Hall, Charlie Hoover, Alberta Chandler; and three siblings who died in infancy, Helen Hoover, Alice Hoover, and Aline Hoover. 

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Gideon's International through the funeral home. The family will receive visitors on Saturday June 5, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. at Hannon Free Will Baptist Church. A funeral service will follow at 2:00 p.m. 

The Life of Clifford Todd Hoover, told to and provided by Charles Hoover 

I was born March 7, 1929, in Nevada, MO. We moved from there to Arcadia, KS, then to a house southeast of the old Hannon Church building in Hannon, MO. This is the first house I remember living in. The best I can figure out this must have been about 1932. 

I remember Charlie and I going to the barn and eating bran (cow feed) and making sure we didn’t have any on our faces before going back to the house. We would also get into stuff in the kitchen and get under the table to eat it, thinking we couldn’t be seen under there. There was a store at the time in Hannon. 

One day when mother was washing the clothes, she needed more soap. She sent me to the store to get more laundry soap, but by the time I got there, I forgot what kind of soap I was supposed to get. I told the store owner I needed soap to wash clothes with. Thankfully, he sent me home with the right kind. 

We moved from there to a place about four miles east of Hannon. I think we lived there just one year. Then we moved to a place four miles west of Hannon (as Alberta referred to as the Christian place). Most of the stuff was moved with horse and wagon. But I do remember when the furniture was being moved, they got a neighbor with a truck to move some of it. 

It was mostly dirt roads then. I was riding with the man in the truck. It got stuck in the mud road going over there. The man said if he had some matches, he would just set the truck and all on fire. It really scared me – I thought he meant it. 

I started to school at Shiloh School, while we lived at the Christian place. We moved to a house across the pasture and road from the school, for a while. When we lived there, we didn’t have electricity, so no refrigerator. We hung the milk and butter down in the well, with a rope. 

One time, the butter bucket came loose in the well. They put a rope around me and let me down into the well to get the butter. They had to let me down in the water up to my waist before I could get the butter. If I remember right, the well was about twenty-five feet deep, to the water. 

We moved then, back to the Christian place. I went to Shiloh School a total of eight years, then started high school at Liberal, MO, where I graduated in 1947. 

Part of the years that I went to Shiloh School, we got our drinking water from a spring down the hill from the school. One or two of us went down in the pasture with a water bucket and dipped water out of a spring. We all used the same drinking cup, to drink from. 

We moved from the Christian place on February 16, 1945, to a house two miles northwest of Liberal, MO. I helped bale hay back when they used the old stationary baler, during the time between school terms. The old baler operated much differently than the automatic ones that make big round bales. The hay was mowed, let dry, and raked up with a Sulky rake. It was taken to the baler with a bull rake. Two men on each side forked the hay onto a platform, another man stood on the platform and fed it into the baler. 

The man on the platform put wooden blocks in to divide the hay into the right length bales. These were measured with a screwdriver placed through a rope on a pulley, when it reached a certain point, it let the man on the platform know it was time to move the divider to the end of the next bale. The wooden divider also let two men know it was time to wire the bales. Wire was used to push from one side of the bale to the other then twisted together to hold the hay in bales. This made square bales which had to be stored in a barn or shed to protect it from the bad weather. It was then hauled back out to the cows or horses when needed for feed, or to be used in the barn for the cow’s bedding. 

After graduation, I worked at the Lumber Yard in Liberal, until I went into the Army in August 1952. I served in the army until August 1954, at Fort Belvoir, VA, where I was discharged. 

After being discharged, I went to Nebraska where I worked on a farm for six years. I then returned to Liberal and worked for a farmer for a while. Then, I went to work for the City of Liberal Light and Water Department. I worked there twenty-five years and retired in 1990. 

On May 5, 1972, when I was going home for lunch, I was hit by a train, at the edge of Liberal. It drug the truck and me 480 feet down the track before it could stop. 

The train crew had orders to not stop until they got to Pittsburg, KS, about twenty miles down the line. There were two men in one of the box cars. They were wanted by the law. However, they were caught in Liberal. The engineers came back to my truck and asked me where the other person was. 

Two train crews could see two people in the truck cab, and they couldn’t figure where the other person was. One was my Guardian Angel, as when I was taken to the hospital (from Wednesday to Sunday) for observation, all that was found were bruises from one side of my body to the other. 

As a result of the accident, a widow lady who lived nearby, became aware of me. She sent me some flowers and a card while I was in the hospital. (She took advantage of me when I couldn’t run.) In October, she invited me out to visit her and her two kids. 

Then on December 30, 1972, I married Virginia Neuenschwander. I got a wife and four children all at once. (Two of which were teenagers and two married, living in other towns.) We have lived on the farm that she owned ever since that day (now over thirty years). 

Our children are Linda (Lansing, Michigan), Elaine (Pittsburg, Kansas), Anna Marie (Miller, Missouri), and Ed (Diamond, MO). We have two grandchildren, Juli and Isaac McAdams, children of Elaine, who is divorced. They live with their dad, Bob, in rural Liberal about three miles from us.