JOE CLIFFORD

April 16, 1920 - January 27, 2020

Joe Clifford, exemplary father, loyal husband, loving brother, WWII veteran, county agent, farm cooperative educator, community volunteer, devout Catholic, and happy wanderer, died peacefully in the early hours of Monday, January 27‪,‬ 2020 in Caledonia, MN after several days of visits and prayers with family, friends, and relatives. He was 99. Born on April 16, 1920 to Michael and Agnes (McDonald) Clifford, Joe and his sisters weathered the Great Depression on the family’s Hauge Ridge farm, five miles north of Caledonia. He also attended St. Mary’s Grade School and graduated from Loretto High School in 1939. He was the 4-H vice president and participated in boxing and football as time allowed. Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted with the US Navy. During his three years and three months of WWII active duty military service, he served in the South Pacific as part of an aviation repair team on the island of Espiritu Santo and later, wanting to get closer to the action, transferred to the USS Half Moon as a Machinist 1st Class. In November of 1945 he returned to civilian life having received the Navy’s Good Conduct and Victory medals. With help from the GI Bill, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, joined the service fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho, and completed his degree in Agriculture Education in 1950. He then went to work as County Agent for Martin County, MN. There he led the 4-H Livestock Loss Prevention Team to a National Championship and advised Martin County 4H and FFA chapters. He later earned FFA’s Honorary American Farmer Degree in 1962. Due to his successes in Martin County, Midland Cooperatives offered him a job as organization relations specialist in the Twin Cities. In the 70s and 80s he served as Assistant Director to the Minnesota State Fair’s Youth Camp where FFA members across the state ushered concerts and horse shows. Joe met his future wife, Betty Ussher at the University of Saskatchewan during a 1955 work trip; a year later they got married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Saskatoon on September 29, 1956. Over the next 14 years, they brought seven children into the world: six boys and one girl - all of whom provided both parents a mix of pride, joy and occasional bewilderment. Joe was thrilled to have five of his sons become Eagle Scouts, and marveled at his daughter’s many achievements in 4-H and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). After eleven years in Member Relations, Joe became a Midland Petroleum Sales Rep and relocated his family to Colby, WI in 1968. Then in 1976 he became Plant Manager of Midland’s first Regional Seed and Fertilizer Distribution Centers located in Unity, WI. Coming full circle when Midland merged with Land O’ Lakes Cooperative in 1982, Joe returned to work in LOL’s Headquarters, once again in Member Relations. In retirement he worked part-time as a substitute teacher in and around Colby, and during the summer, toured nearly every state in the US and several Canadian Provinces on his trusty Honda Goldwing motorcycle. During his work years, Joe had traveled to Jamaica and Czechoslovakia to teach farmers and fishermen the benefits of cooperatives. At the age of 68, he traveled to Ireland and hitchhiked through the Emerald Isle in search of relatives, ancestors, and adventure. Throughout his lif‪e, Joe volunteered at his local Catholic churches as server, lector, usher, choir member, and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for the homebound. ‬In 2006 Joe returned to his roots in Caledonia and broadened his commitment to community service. In addition to being a volunteer driver for Houston County‪’‬s SEMCAC, a community action organization that provides support for independent living, he also delivered meals to senior citizens who were homebound. In 2010‪,‬ at the age of 90‪,‬ he received Houston County’s Outstanding Senior Volunteer Award‪.‬ Living independently until age 93, Joe entered Caledonia‪ Care and Rehab‬ after battling sepsis for six weeks. In his final years, he learned how to accept “a bit” of help from his caregivers, friends, and family to whom he had given so much during his years as an active member of his original hometown, his church communities, his family’s hometown of Colby, and his country‪.‬ He is survived by his daughter Mary Schlageter and her husband Mike; his sons Michael (Annemarie), James (Tlalli), John, Richard, and Robert (Kim Howard); his grandchildren Lauren (Drake Steed), Adam Clifford, Jonathan Hepner (Krista), Nick Hepner; great grandchildren Thomas, Maria, Dominic, Cecilia, and Elena Steed; and a multitude of nieces, nephews, great and great-great nieces and nephews, and no shortage of cousins as well. Joe was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, in 2011; his son Bill in 1986; his sisters Evelyn in 1989, Rita (Clifford) Loushine in 2004, Lucille (Clifford) Swing in 2012 and great grandchild Paul Francis Steed in 2017‪.‬ A funeral Mass in Hope of Resurrection will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 8, at St. Mary’s Church 513 Pine Street Caledonia, MN. Visitation will be held on the day of the funeral starting at 10:00‪.‬ There will be a luncheon at St‪.‬ Mary‪’‬s following burial. The family would like to sincerely thank Bernie McCormick and the McCormick Funeral Home of Caledonia for assisting the family with arrangements‪.‬ In lieu of flowers, the family asks that people donate to the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives - https://uwcc.wisc.edu - ‪(‬search ‪“‬donate‪”)‬ the organization that sponsored Joe’s trips to Jamaica and Czechoslovakia to promote the cooperative model‪.‬