CLIFTON MAXWELL TYLER

The following bio was taken from page 417 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Clifton Maxwell Tyler met Cecile Bettie McCann in Overton in 1945. He was then a newcomer to the county, having come to Overton as a telegrapher-clerk for the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1945. He was born in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, on July 19, 1905, the son of Thomas Andrew Tyler and Keziah Maxwell Franklin. He grew up in Sabine Parish and began working for the railroads of Louisiana and Arkansas in 1925.

Born on August 11, 1911, Cecile McCann, the daughter of George Early McCann and Leah Erin Patrick, was raised in the Patrick Community of Southeastern Rusk County. She attended Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College and graduated in 1933. Her thirty-year teaching career began in the small community school at Patrick. She later taught in Nacogdoches and then moved to Overton in 1945. Cecile married Clifton Tyler in Overton on June 1, 1946.

The Tylers became members of the First Methodist Church in Overton and have contributed to the community in a variety of ways since 1945. Clifton worked at the depot for twenty years, but his other services are also remembered. He was an active member of the church, serving on its Official Board for a number of years. He was a member and officer of the Overton Rotary International Club and the London Lions Club and a fifty-year member of the Masonic Lodge. In 1961 he began a career as an insurance agent, first for Farmers Insurance Group and later for Evans Hickman Insurance Company in Overton. Clifton retired from the railroad in 1967 and became involved in activities for senior citizens, especially in the local chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. He was co-director of the Rusk County Heart Fund, and in 1980 he was selected as one of the Outstanding Senior Citizens of Rusk County.

Cecile McCann Tyler taught until 1972 in the Overton Elementary School. After retiring from the teaching profession, she expanded her other activities, devoting much time and leadership to the United Methodist Women, many other church committees, the Queen Price Garden Club, and the local chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. Together Clifton and Cecile have served the county as teacher, lay church workers, concerned citizens, insurance adviser, and social workers. They have one daughter, Lera Patrick Tyler Lich, born in 1948, and three grandchildren.

Clifton Maxwell Tyler died on October 1, 1980 and is buried in the Overton City Cemetery.

Submitted by Lera Patrick Tyler Lich