A few years ago, reporters with the National Public Radio program, “Marketplace,” spent a week in Cuba, MO and reported on how the global economy can affect rural Missouri. The story explained the global marketplace as they told how wooden barrels made in Cuba were bought by vineyards in France. After the show aired that evening, the crew asked what entertainment was available in Cuba.
They were directed down the road to Leasburg, to a small café, the Chat and Chew, where they could  catch a jam session of local folk music. After listening to the music for a short time, the crew asked those gathered if they could make a recording and do a few short interviews.
As they made their way  around the room, they sat down with one guitarist to chat for a few minutes. They found out that he  had grown up in the area and graduated from Cuba High School.
They then asked if he found it unusual for a town to be named after a country and, off the cuff, remarked that he would probably never see that country. To their amazement, this small town guitarist stated that he, in fact, had been to the country of Cuba while serving in the U.S. Navy, although it was prior to the Castro regime.
The  guitarist with whom they had a chance meeting was Clyde Scantlan. Clyde’s journey did not begin in Missouri, but in Oklahoma where his parents had relocated in the late 1920s.
George, Clyde’s father, had found employment in the oil industry when the bottom fell out of the economy in what history books refer to as “The Great Depression.” A couple of years later, George moved his family to east Texas and continued working in the oil industry.
He was grateful to  have a job while millions were unemployed. But Missouri was calling him, so he returned to Crawford County to try his hand at farming when Clyde was five years old.
Times were very tough as his family grew to include one daughter, Barbara, and five sons, Clyde, Walter, Don, George and Jerry.  Therefore, George found work in town while not giving up on his farming.
These were good years, too,  filled with hard work and adventure. If you have some time, sit down with Clyde and his four brothers. They will entertain you with countless tales, each brother having to top the stories of the  other.
In 1941, “The War” changed everything across the country, including life in rural Missouri. Although  Clyde was too young to be a soldier or sailor, he and his family were affected.
Like others around him he collected scrap iron and lived with rationing. His father went to work at a munitions factory in St. Louis and only came home on weekends, while his mother, Nina, raised their family of six.
After the  war ended, Clyde graduated from high school and began working as a teacher at the Oak Ridge  one-room school, attending Southwest Baptist College during the summers. It was during this time that he met and married the love of his life, Ellen Lewis. Their married life was soon interrupted with the Korean conflict. To avoid being drafted by the Army, Clyde joined the Navy. He says that he decided he would rather ride than walk.
Although he was separated from his wife for long periods and had to receive a telegram while at sea announcing the birth of his first son, Larry, he was able to keep his chin up by seeing places few people from his hometown would ever visit. He traveled the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean to Japan and Korea on two occasions. In between those trips, his family joined him in California until he went back out to sea.
After four years, he reenlisted and was stationed at Millington, TN, where his second son,  Kevin, was born. However, the Navy never lets you stay in one place very long; so for his next  assignment, Clyde requested to go back to the Pacific Ocean and serve on a large ship. Of course, the  Navy placed him on a small ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The family packed up and moved to Rhode Island until Clyde had served his duty and then headed back to Missouri, settling in Sullivan where his  daughter, Carolyn, was born.
Clyde worked at Ramsey Piston Ring Factory as a foreman for a few years. When his dream job of being a rural route mail carrier became available, he took the test and was appointed to Sullivan’s Rural  Route 2, where he delivered the mail until he retired 23 years later.
He always adhered to the mailman’s code, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift  completion of their appointed rounds,” faithfully, which often meant many a night under his car to have it  ready for the next day.
Work was only one part of Clyde’s life. Since 1959, he has been a devoted member of Temple Baptist Church where he has served as a Sunday school teacher and a choir member.
Music has played an integral part in his life. He has played guitar since he was 15 and continues today whether it’s playing and singing western, bluegrass and gospel, or simply “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” to his partner in music and life of 60 years.
Once you’ve seen the world, it’s hard to get the adventure of travel out of  your blood. Clyde and Ellen have seen this country in all directions, having visited 49 states and  “wintering” in Florida for more than 20 years.
Clyde is not content to just sit “on the porch in a rocking  chair,” but loves to explore what’s new. He has learned to enjoy the Internet and has located cousins and friends he hadn’t seen or heard from in years. He also keeps up-to-date with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
So, 10 years into the 21st century, Clyde Scantlan celebrates his 80th birthday with family and friends. The  celebration will be held on May 16, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at Temple Baptist Church in Sullivan. The only gift requested is your presence; because, if you know Clyde, you know he loves to visit with friends and family and, as his wife can attest, even with total strangers.