Staff report
ROCKWELL ó Clyde A. Barringer, the town’s longest-serving alderman, died Tuesday at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord. He was 82.
During 30 years on the board, Barringer spoke out in favor of a new library, ballfields and walking trails and urged the town to pursue projects that could bring jobs.
He served on the town board from July 1969 to December 2000.
Asked by a Post reporter in 1997 why voters should re-elect him, Barringer had an easy answer.
“I think I will give everybody a fair shake and a fair deal. That is the reason I have been on there (town board) for so long,” he said.
His service to the town included 36 years as a member of the Rockwell City Fire Department, including terms as assistant chief and secretary/treasurer.
Friends, town employees and government officials describe Barringer as devoted to his community.
“He was a sweet man who really cared about the town,” Sue Morton, town clerk, said Tuesday. “He wanted to better the Fire Department, the Police Department, the whole town. … He was a wonderful man … one of my most favorite aldermen.”
Harold Earnhardt, who served as mayor for 10 years, recalled Barringer as “dedicated and loyal to his town, to his board and his citizens.”
Earnhardt, who served as mayor for 10 years while Barringer was on the board, said he was good to work with.
“His heart was in the right place,” Earnhardt said. “Rockwell was important to him. He wanted the best for Rockwell.”
Earnhardt said while Barringer didn’t say as much as some board members, there was never any doubt about where he stood.
Once he left the Board of Aldermen in 2000, Barringer joined the town’s Planning Board and served until 2007.
A 1943 graduate of Rockwell High School, he attended Salisbury Business College. He retired from Sides Lumber Company, where he worked as a cabinet maker.
He was the last charter member of the Rockwell Lions Club, with 55 years of service, and was a lifelong member of St. James Lutheran Church.
He is survived by his wife, June Miller Barringer.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, with burial in the St. James Lutheran Church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at Powles Funeral Home from 6 to 8 tonight.