WORCESTER - Clyde C. Sweetser, 66, longtime Worcester
resident, died Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, after a short illness
at Fletcher Allen Health Care, with his loving family at his side.
He had been a resident of Birchwood Terrace Nursing Center since June 2007.
Clyde was born Dec. 19, 1946, at Heaton Hospital in Montpelier.
He was the first son of Archelaus W. Sweetser and Stella R. Brink
(Sweetser) (Hovey). Clyde's father died in 1952, and his mother moved with
her three sons to Worcester, Vt., where she married Willard F. Hovey in 1957.
Clyde attended the Worcester grammar school and graduated from St. Johnsbury Trade School
as a machinist in 1964. Clyde enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1964, attaining the rank of sergeant.
He married his high school sweetheart, Sandra E. Barney, in 1966. They
divorced in 1973. Clyde was deployed to Vietnam with the 11th Engineers, 3rd
Marine Division, in December 1967. After his return in 1968, Clyde extended his
enlistment. Sandy joined him while he was serving as an MP in Japan. Their
daughter Melissa was born in 1969.
He was severely injured in a car accident on March 4, 1970, in Japan and was
medically discharged on July 27, 1970. He was rendered a quadriplegic, and the
VA doctors said he would never walk or talk again. Strong and stubborn, Clyde
did both for the next 40 years, walking unsupported. He was again confined to
a wheelchair for the last three years.
Clyde was severely limited in what he could do because of his physical and
vocal limitations. Clyde loved to help people, and during the 1980s and early
'90s he raised hundreds of dollars while standing outside local malls for the
Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy of Vermont.
On March 24, 1979, he married Anna Mae Foster, of Rutland, at the North
Avenue Alliance Church in Burlington. They had two sons, Clyde W. and Brian L.
Sweetser, and lived at his home in Worcester, where they raised their sons. They divorced in 1991.
Clyde is survived by his children, Melissa Olivares and husband Francisco, of
White Plains, N.Y., sons Clyde W. Sweetser, of Chicago, and Brian L. Sweetser,
of Worcester; brothers Archelaus Sweetser, of Locust Grove, Va., Gene
Sweetser, of Essex Junction, Vt., and Gary Sweetser, of Waterbury, Vt.; sisters
Ruth (Hovey) Sicely and Leola (Hovey) Russ, of Worcester, Vt.; grandchildren
Samantha and Javier Olivares; many nieces, nephews and cousins. He was
predeceased by his brother George R. Sweetser and sister Elizabeth Larson.
Funeral services will be held at Worcester United Methodist Church Friday, Oct. 25, 2013,
at 10 a.m. Interment will be at the Vermont Veterans Memorial
Cemetery Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Randolph Center, Vt., at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Vermont Veterans Fund, c/o
Richard Reed, Director, Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs, 118 State St., Montpelier, VT 05620-0441.
Published in Times Argus from Oct. 24 to Oct. 25, 2013
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