Clatterbucks retire

Published 7:51 pm Saturday, June 8, 2013

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Bobby Harrell presents a plaque to Maj. Calvin Clatterbuck at a retirement party for Clatterbuck last month. Clatterbuck and his wife, Maj. Irene Clatterbuck, are retiring from the Salvation Army.

 

The beginning of Calvin Clatterbuck’s journey in the Salvation Army almost reads like a Charles Dickens novel.

It was a cold, unforgiving Christmas Eve way out in the rural mountains of Virginia, where Clatterbuck and his 12 siblings lived with their grandparents.

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“There came a knock on the door,” Clatterbuck recalled recently. “My grandfather opened the door and there stood in the doorway this uniform — the Salvation Army.”

The Salvation Army officer had come to deliver food and toys.

“I don’t even remember what was in the basket,” Clatterbuck said. “The only thing that impressed me was that this man left his family, came all the way to our house, across the mountain, to make Christmas for us.”

About six years later, Clatterbuck felt drawn to an evangelistic meeting at the Salvation Army and was surprised to find the evangelist was the same officer who had visited his home that Christmas Eve. Clatterbuck accepted Jesus Christ at that meeting and began volunteering with the Salvation Army.

He went on to college and started a career in construction.

“I built a lot of huge buildings, a lot of million-dollar homes,” he said.

But he was yearning for something more fulfilling.

“I wanted to help people, to do something for people,” he said.

Clatterbuck will retire from the Salvation Army’s Suffolk Corps next week at the age of 65 and a half. The Salvation Army, where he began working full-time 33 years ago, mandates retirement at that age.

“I probably could have gone a little longer,” he said. However, his wife Irene, also a major with the Salvation Army’s Suffolk Corps, is battling cancer, and he wants to focus on helping her recover.

The couple met on the farm in Flint Hill where she was raised and were married at age 17. They had four children and a foster child and now have 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

They have been stationed all over the eastern half of the United States, from Florence, Ala., to Logan, W.Va.

The trail of results has been measurable. After just a few short years stationed on a dangerous corner in Washington, D.C., the Clatterbucks saw an 80-percent drop in the crime rate after previously witnessing murders happen in the Salvation Army parking lot. It came from simple measures — serving hot breakfast to kids before school — that made a big difference.

“It was dangerous, but I’ve never been afraid of anything,” Clatterbuck said. “If you take care of the community, the community will take care of you.”

Suffolk, having been their home for the past six years, has been their longest appointment.

And, Clatterbuck believes, the best.

“They saved the best for last,” he said. “I believe that Suffolk has probably been one of the best appointments I’ve ever been in.”

The reason is simple. It’s what he believes should be the city’s motto.

“People helping people,” he said. “I wish they would just catch onto that phrase. You have people out there helping people every day. Most of the time people come together in disaster, but in Suffolk it’s an everyday deal.”

Clatterbuck is in a better position than most to witness this phenomenon. The Salvation Army gives out food every day from its Bank Street headquarters. It provides aid in innumerable ways to numerous people every year.

He shrugs off suggestions that he has made a difference.

“Without people helping people, we wouldn’t exist,” he said, noting especially many dedicated volunteers and the board of directors. “I want to thank them for all that they’ve done to make life easier for people around Suffolk.”

After beginning his career in construction, Clatterbuck will be ending it with construction as well. He says one of his best accomplishments in Suffolk was helping to oversee the Salvation Army’s new physical education and health building, which will provide recreational opportunities for youth and seniors.

“You can visualize the change that building will bring to Suffolk,” he said. “I really believe the crime rate will go down, education will go up and there will be a lot of great things that building will accomplish.”

The Clatterbucks will retire to Conway, S.C., where they had a previous Salvation Army post and where some of their offspring are still living. But he said he will be back for the upcoming dedication of the new building.

He says he will miss Suffolk badly.

“Anytime I go into an appointment, I want to leave it better than when I found it,” he said. “I’ve created a lot of great relationships here.”

The Clatterbucks won’t be leaving Suffolk shorthanded, though. James and Susan Shiels will be taking over as the heads of the Suffolk Corps. They are moving from Warrenton.

“We’re very excited to follow up with the work the Clatterbucks are doing,” James Shiels said recently. “It looks like it’s just a wonderful place to be.”

Their first day will be June 24.