YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Clyde and Sherry Cameron

By Tim Wesley

Some folks prefer to live by a well-crafted plan, meticulously working toward goals and rarely veering off a scripted course.

And then there’s Clyde and Sherry Cameron.

Perhaps best personified by The Clyde Ryde™  – OK, it’s not trademarked, but it should be – they seem to have perfected the art of meandering along the path of life, content in the wisdom that it’s about the destination and the journey.  Just don’t mistake their many-roads-will-get-you-there demeanor for a lack of passion and purpose.  They’re driven by the principles of their faith, and that’s a path they’ve followed, well, religiously for a lifetime.

“We love to go for car rides, so we just get in the car and go, sometimes with no destination in mind,” Sherry said.  “And Clyde loves back roads.  We just wander around and explore.  We get to a road and say, ‘Let’s see where it goes.’  Then we drive awhile and it comes to a T, so we pick a new way.  The goal is to get lost, but you never get lost; you always come out some place that you’re familiar with.”

Take, for instance, the day almost 30 years ago during a major snowstorm when they hopped in Clyde’s four-wheel-drive Toyota pick-up and headed for McConnells Mill State Park.

“There were no tracks in the snow on those roads, so we just followed what looked like the road,” Clyde said.  “We cruised around to different areas and it was just gorgeous.  Snow on the trees.  Deep snow on the ground.  The creek running through, partially frozen.  It was a fantastic ride.”

Along the way, they passed a favorite spot where a large rock juts from the Slippery Rock Creek, a short jump from the bank.

“As a kid, that rock always fascinated me,” Clyde said.  “When I asked Sherry to marry me, I took her to that rock.”

That’s a leap – a plan, even – that has worked out quite well for the Camerons, who just celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary.  Having lived in the same house and attended the same church for the past 51 years, they are fixtures in Cranberry Township and at Dutilh.

“We do know a lot of people, and a lot of people know us,” Clyde said.  “But maybe they don’t know all the details about us.”

With that in mind, sit back, get comfortable, and enjoy a Cameron ride.

Sherry grew up in Mercer on a small farm, where she and her four siblings helped their dad by driving the family tractor, tending to gardens and taking care of animals, including pigs, ponies and chickens.  She had no plans to attend college after graduating from Mercer High School, but some of her teachers had a different idea, visiting her house and telling her parents, “This girl needs to go to college.” 

Her new course charted, Sherry enrolled as a commuter student at Slippery Rock as an education major, and her dad bought the family a new car – he had never owned a new one before – for the road ahead. 

“It was the cheapest car on wheels, with no carpet and no radio,” she said.  “Every night I’d take him to the bus stop so he could get a ride to work on the midnight shift at Westinghouse, and the next morning I’d drive to school.”

Clyde’s journey began in nearby Harlansburg, where his dad owned an automobile repair shop on Route 19.  Drivers trekking from Pittsburgh to Erie in those days usually passed by Cameron’s Garage, where they might have encountered a young man working the cash register, pumping gas, and cleaning windshields.

“I spent a lot of time messing around in the garage and learned a lot,” Clyde said.

When he wasn’t working, he was messing around with his two older brothers and playing sports at Laurel High School, where he excelled in baseball – and you need to know some juicy details about that.

In high school, Clyde played baseball against a local legend who would become one of the most-feared hitters in major league baseball history:  Wampum High School’s Richie Allen.

“I’m catching,” Clyde said, “and our pitcher was a junk ball pitcher, throwing knuckleballs and curveballs.  Now Richie is on third base, and he’s big and muscular, and fast, too.  Next thing I know Richie is coming down the third base line to steal home.  The pitcher throws a junk ball into the dirt, and I go to catch it.  Richie slides into home and knocks me flying.  I’d probably still be going if the bleachers weren’t in the way.  He was an incredible athlete, massive and so gifted.”

Some local umpires thought Clyde was pretty gifted, too, so they helped to arrange a tryout for him with the hometown Pirates in Forbes Field.

“I’m 17,” he said, “and I had a letter from the Pirates asking me to come down.  It was a big thrill.  Pie Traynor hit me some ground balls, I got to run the bases and I drove one to the ivy in center field.  It was a great experience but didn’t lead to anything.  In those days, Bill Mazeroski was my idol, and I once tried to put a wad of tobacco in my mouth like he always did.  That didn’t turn out so well, either.  I thought I was going to die, but it sure cured me of tobacco.”

What did turn out well is that Clyde also enrolled at Slippery Rock, and one day he spied Sherry in the commuter lounge.

“She caught my eye, and I pursued her,” he said.

And a few years later, upon that rock in Slippery Rock Creek, Clyde proposed and Sherry accepted.  They married in April 1965, then settled in New Castle after graduating with teaching degrees.  That summer, Clyde interviewed for a physical education teaching position in the North Hills School District, and Sherry came along for the ride.  (Was that their first Clyde Ryde?)  Clyde was offered the job on the spot, so he asked if the district had any teaching opportunities for Sherry.

“We had driven down from New Castle with the windows down,” she said.  “My plan was to just sit in the parking lot, so I looked like kind of a mess.  But I interviewed, too, and we both left with jobs that day.”

For Clyde, it launched a 35-year teaching career in the district, a career that enabled him once again to brush up against athletic greatness:  One former student serves as a team physician for the Baltimore Ravens and another, LaVar Arrington, was a top football recruit coming out of North Hills High School, starred at Penn State University and became a superstar in the National Football League with Washington.

“I had LaVar in first and second grade,” Clyde said, “and he was already doing handsprings and walking on his hands.  Over the years, watching him grow up to be the athlete he became was special.”

For Sherry, her job as a kindergarten teacher in the district ended after two years, when she became pregnant with the couple’s first child.  A son, Jay, was born in 1967, and a daughter, Tara, followed in 1970.  That same year the family settled in Cranberry Township and took a drive around the area – of course they did – to look for a church.  Sherry had grown up attending a Methodist church, and Clyde had attended a Baptist church as a youngster.  After they visited Dutilh, the church’s pastor at the time, John McLeister, paid them a visit at home.

“We had a nice conversation, and he said the most important thing was to find a church we would be comfortable in, and where we could raise our family,” Clyde said.  “We visited the church another time or two and the people were so welcoming, so we joined.  Very soon, we met some people that became close friends, and some that really became like our family.”

As Clyde continued teaching at North Hills, Sherry switched gears to become a full-time homemaker and put her teaching skills to work in new ways at Dutilh and in the community. 

She helped to start a Dutilh group for young women, which met weekly and made crafts to sell at the annual church bazaar, which evolved into the Dutilh flea market.  For a community service project, they started a babysitting service at church that planted the seeds for Dutilh’s first preschool.  Driven by her love for kids, Sherry started as a substitute teacher in the preschool in 1971 and became its director in 1980.  When writing the school’s monthly newsletter for parents, she included “Totline Tidbits,” a rundown of funny things the kids said or did.  She retired in 2003, having grown the preschool to 146 students and eight staff members.

“I loved it,” she said.  “I came to know so many young families in our community, and I could help them and make recommendations to them because I was a mom, too.  And I’ve always been fascinated with little kids, how they think and the funny things they say, and trying to figure out how to get on their level to make them understand and learn things.”

Clyde retired from teaching in 2000 and expressed similar passion about his career.

“I just enjoyed being involved with the kids and watching them grow,” he said.  “To see the smiles on their faces when they were able to do something was rewarding.”

In retirement, the Camerons have remained active at Dutilh and in the community, driven by the principles of faith they’ve followed for a lifetime.

“Just being a good example is such a big part of your faith,” Clyde said.  “How you present yourself to other people and how you treat them is so important.  In my later years, after our kids got raised, I had an opportunity to coach baseball and soccer.  At the end of one baseball season, we had a banquet and they needed someone to say a prayer, so I said it.  A fellow came up to me afterward and said, ‘I always knew you were a Christian and that confirmed it.’  So I just think you need to live life as an example for others and hope that example is something people can see.”

Over five decades at Dutilh, the Camerons have worshipped under seven different pastors and served almost every committee or ministry.  Clyde still participates in the men’s group and occasionally serves as a referee for its holiday flag football games.  He’s also a member of the Cranberry Township Lions Club, along with several other Dutilh men.  Sherry lends a hand when Dutilh hosts funeral meals, and she helps to make quilts for MHY Family Services.  They’re grateful for ongoing opportunities to serve, and for the benefits they’ve received from participating.

“For us, the church helped in our development as believers, helped us to expand our faith, and helped us to grow our children,” Sherry said.

Today, they enjoy spending time with their five grandchildren, ages 18 to 22, and have a carload of hobbies.  Clyde is learning to play the ukulele.  They enjoy gardening, whether it’s flowers or vegetables.  They love to dance, especially to Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock & Roll.  Clyde likes to bike on the rails to trails.  Almost every day, they take time for mid-afternoon tea and chatting.

And, of course, there are The Clyde Rydes, solo or with friends. 

On a recent outing in separate cars with Wade and Angela Lawson, Clyde and Sherry led the way on a typical trek to nowhere special.  At one point in their seemingly endless and circuitous journey, Clyde turned onto a “beautiful” dirt road and the Lawsons followed.

A few minutes later, Angela phoned with a question:  “Are there any roads around here with lines on them?”

Sounds like another mission accomplished.

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If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.