News Flash
01-19-2008, 01:07 PM
Former Bradenton chief loved policing
MANATEE COUNTY -- Clyde Gill gave nearly 60 years of service
Clyde Gill, who dreamed of becoming a policeman while growing up on a farm near Myakka City more than 80 years ago, became Bradenton's chief of police during a law enforcement career that spanned nearly 60 years in Manatee County.
Despite sufferent from heart disease for many years, Gill went back to work at 64 as a courier for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office -- and put in 17 more years on the force.
"Before he retired a second time in 2003, a reporter from an Orlando paper tracked him down as the longest working deputy in the state, something Clyde wasn't aware of. He had 58 1/2 years of total service."
"He was someone that a lot of the younger guys and younger supervisors would go to for advice, even when he was working as a courier," Steube said.
In addition to being active in his church and several civic groups, he was known for his barbecued chicken and smoked mullet at cookouts for charity events.
"He was doing that 35 to 40 weekends a year, plus many holidays, to help different groups raise money," his wife said.
When he was hired by the Bradenton Police Department in 1944, he was one of only six officers on the force, compared with 122 today. He recalled that he almost did not get the job because the police chief told him there were already two other men on the force named Clyde.
He initially worked 12-hour shifts six days a week.
As his schedule changed, he began working weekends at the Manatee Sheriff's Office in the early 1950s and was made chief deputy in 1955. He was second-in-charge under five sheriffs from 1955 to 1984, except when he served as Bradenton's chief of police from 1971 to 1976.
"There was no job too small for him. As chief of police, he would go out and direct traffic" to alleviate bottlenecks, his wife said.
"Every time I come back across the Manatee County line, I feel like I'm in heaven," he told a Herald-Tribune reporter 30 years ago.
Added his wife: "He loved people, he loved the Lord, he loved his career and he was one of the kindest people I've ever known."
Click here (http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080119/NEWS/801190457/-1/Help07) for the full story.
MANATEE COUNTY -- Clyde Gill gave nearly 60 years of service
Clyde Gill, who dreamed of becoming a policeman while growing up on a farm near Myakka City more than 80 years ago, became Bradenton's chief of police during a law enforcement career that spanned nearly 60 years in Manatee County.
Despite sufferent from heart disease for many years, Gill went back to work at 64 as a courier for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office -- and put in 17 more years on the force.
"Before he retired a second time in 2003, a reporter from an Orlando paper tracked him down as the longest working deputy in the state, something Clyde wasn't aware of. He had 58 1/2 years of total service."
"He was someone that a lot of the younger guys and younger supervisors would go to for advice, even when he was working as a courier," Steube said.
In addition to being active in his church and several civic groups, he was known for his barbecued chicken and smoked mullet at cookouts for charity events.
"He was doing that 35 to 40 weekends a year, plus many holidays, to help different groups raise money," his wife said.
When he was hired by the Bradenton Police Department in 1944, he was one of only six officers on the force, compared with 122 today. He recalled that he almost did not get the job because the police chief told him there were already two other men on the force named Clyde.
He initially worked 12-hour shifts six days a week.
As his schedule changed, he began working weekends at the Manatee Sheriff's Office in the early 1950s and was made chief deputy in 1955. He was second-in-charge under five sheriffs from 1955 to 1984, except when he served as Bradenton's chief of police from 1971 to 1976.
"There was no job too small for him. As chief of police, he would go out and direct traffic" to alleviate bottlenecks, his wife said.
"Every time I come back across the Manatee County line, I feel like I'm in heaven," he told a Herald-Tribune reporter 30 years ago.
Added his wife: "He loved people, he loved the Lord, he loved his career and he was one of the kindest people I've ever known."
Click here (http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080119/NEWS/801190457/-1/Help07) for the full story.