Campbell ~ Patrick Wayne Clifford, 83 of Campbell, passed away peacefully with family by his side on Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at Campbell Healthcare and Senior Living after a brief illness.

Pat, middle son of Everett and Mildred Ramsey Clifford, was born on Thursday, July 25, 1940 in Campbell.

He was a veteran of the United States Army Reserves and the Army National Guard and was a member of the Methodist Church in Campbell.

On May 22, 1965 in Gideon, Missouri, he was united in marriage to Shirley Jean Bentley. She preceded him in death on September 19, 2021.

His survivors include his daughter, Bentley Utgaard and husband, John of Murray, Kentucky; grandson, Edward Utgaard of Murray, Kentucky; and cousin/best friend, Bill Ramsey of Campbell. He also leaves behind beloved sisters and brothers in-law, cousins, nieces, nephews, and many dear friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Louis Clifford and Richard "Dick" Clifford as well as special aunts and uncles and cousins.

Pat built a career in the trucking industry. He first worked for his father's trucking company Clifford Transport based in Campbell. After high school he moved to St. Louis to work for Elfrink Truck Lines. He often recalled how he could see the Gateway Arch being constructed from their offices downtown. He went on to attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro where he received a degree in business with a psychology minor, and where he became a lifetime member of the Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity. He was also employed by Beaufort Transfer Company, Jones Truck Lines, Holland Motor Express, and Garrison Motor Freight among others in Arkansas and Missouri. He held a spectrum of positions over the years from driver to dispatcher to sales manager to terminal manager. He worked for Elfrink again in Cape Girardeau and retired from there in the early 2000s. He knew this region and the industry so well that if you gave him the name of a town he could tell you all the manufacturing companies and products and supplies produced there, and the history of its economy to boot.

Pat was an avid reader and history buff who possessed an incredible memory and capacity for storytelling. We will miss all his stories and anecdotes, humorous and serious. Above all, Pat was devoted to his family. He and Shirley would help check on his great aunts Floy Callahan and Eulalia Ramsey in their twilight years, and he cared for Shirley along her journey with Alzheimer's. Recently Pat was challenged with declining vision and mobility, but was determined to stay in the home where he felt most safe - the home built by his grandfather Silas Ramsey in 1912.

The family wishes to express their gratitude for those who checked on him regularly, his friends who picked him up every day to go to lunch at the Campbell Nutrition Center so he could converse with the "Knights of the Round Table," and those who helped him maintain his home and yard. Thank you also to the healthcare professionals who saved what little sight he had left as well as those who cared for him in his last weeks.

Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, December 30, 2023 at the Landess Funeral Chapel in Campbell, with a funeral service officiated by Legacy Hospice Chaplain Jim Davis beginning at 2 p.m. Burial following at Woodlawn Cemetery in Campbell.

Landess Funeral Home and Crematory of Campbell are in charge of the arrangements.