Farmer enjoyed hunting, fishing

4/1/2001

LEIPSIC - Clyde H. Hector of Putnam County's Blanchard Township, a retired farmer and member of the former Gilboa school board, died Thursday in the home of his son, Eugene, in Leipsic. He was 97.

The cause of Mr. Hector's death was listed as advanced age, his son, Eugene, said.

Mr. Hector was a resident of Putnam Acres Care Center, Ottawa, for about five years, but he asked to be moved to his son's house several weeks ago so he could be closer to his family.

Mr. Hector owned and operated a 160 to 200-acre general farm, about six miles southeast of Leipsic, for many years, retiring in 1965. He was a school board member from 1948 to 1952, was a longtime member of the Leipsic Rod and Gun Club and the Gilboa, Ohio, United Methodist Church.

He attended school until the eighth grade at a country school “about a half-mile from where he lived,” his son Eugene said. He went on to impress his family and friends with his analytical, mechanical, and mathematical talents.

“His ability to analyze and solve problems was far beyond what we thought he was capable of because of his education,” his son Dwight said. “He read, but not a great deal. His analytical ability was due mostly to his own insight into how things worked.”

Mr. Hector was an avid firearm and bow hunter who hunted moose, sheep, and caribou in Alaska; black bear and moose in Canada; mountain lions and bobcats in Colorado; mule deer and antelope in Wyoming; white tail deer in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and wild boars and goats in southern Florida.

He was an enthusiastic fisherman, who cast lines in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Canada. He built his own boat from a plywood kit in 1950, his son Eugene said.

Mr. Hector seemed to be most happy when he was building or rebuilding a piece of machinery and constructing a building, but his sons said he took he took special pride in the appearance of his farm and crops.

“He was never one who thought he had to build an empire, like some farmers did,” his son, Eugene, said. “Farming was an occupation for him. He was proud of what he achieved with the land, but I think he enjoyed his hunting the most. He was conscious of how much we depend on nature for almost everything we need.”

Mr. Hector was a past member of the building committee of Gilboa United Methodist Church, and often was tapped for church construction projects “because he was handy with a saw and hammer. He was an expert carpenter,” his son, Eugene, said.

Surviving are his daughters, Helen Fabian, Ardath Haughn, Dorothea Wilkinson, Patricia Craft, and Laura Drerup; sons, Eugene, Wayne, and Dwight; 21 grandchildren; 53 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Trinity United Methodist Church, Ottawa. The body will be in the Heitmeyer Funeral Home, Ottawa, after 2 p.m. today.

The family requests tributes to the Gilboa United Methodist Church, Putnam Acres Care Center in Ottawa, or the Putnam County Hospice.