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Date of these obituaries: 10-10-97
Althea Clayton opened home, heart to Bromley
When Little League baseball players got whacked with a bat or scraped in a slide to base, they knew where to run: to Althea "Teeda" Clayton, who bandaged their injuries in her home near the neighborhood ball field in Bromley.
"Any kid that had a skinned knee, a bloody nose, or needed a drink of water, they always knew to go to her, " said Howard Clayton, Mrs. Clayton's only son.
"The kids all knew her as the 'cookie lady, ' because she was always baking.
They knew where to get a treat."
Ms. Clayton opened her home to friends and family for the 56 years she lived in Bromley with her husband, Harry "Shorty" Clayton.
She died Wednesday from heart complications at Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, where she had been living with her son's family for about a year.
She was 78.
Ms. Clayton grew up in Constance, Ky., where she met Harry Clayton, a high-school sweetheart.
They married
in 1938, and moved to Bromley when Harry got a job with the Cincinnati Union Terminal.
He retired as a train master after 45 years.
Ms. Clayton was a homemaker and a member of Bromley Christian Church. Eventually, she became a deaconess for the church, helping organize fund-raising events and church services.
She also was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and she was a charter member of Bromley Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary.
Every year, she helped collect clothes and necessities and put together holiday baskets for the poor. She also helped organize the local fire department's annual carnival.
Ms. Clayton and her husband spent two weeks every summer fishing in some part of the country, usually Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan.
"If it bit, they were ready to catch it and eat it, too, " said daughter-in-law Carol Clayton.
After her husband died in 1981, Ms. Clayton continued to work for the church and tend to the children playing at the ball fields.
"She never drove, but she was very active in the town, always looking to help other folks, " Howard Clayton said.
"From 1938 or 1940, up until last year, her whole adult life was in Bromley.
She was one of the city mothers."
Other survivors include a brother, Robert Vahlsing of Bromley; a sister, Virginia Lail of Bromley; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Middendorf-Bullock Funeral Home, Ludlow.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.
Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Erlanger.
Memorials are suggested to the church, 216 Kenton St., Bromley, Ky., 41016.
Robert Gutfreund, 73, of Lakeside Park, died Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Hospice Unit,
Covington. He was a retired manager with Cincinnati Bell Telephone, and an active member of BeCon.
Survivors include his wife, Lucille Gutfreund; daughters, Janice Gutfreund of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Nancy Williams of Farmington Hills, Mich.; a son, Mark Gutfreund of Paducah; and two grandchildren.
Mass of Christian burial will be 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Henry Church, Elsmere.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Linnemann Funeral Home, Erlanger. Burial will be in St. Stephen Cemetery, Ft. Thomas.
Memorials are suggested to BeCon, 714 Washington Ave., Covington, Ky., 41011, or in the form of Masses at St. Henry Church.
Zelma Taylor Hartford, 75, of Newington, Ga., formerly of Northern Kentucky, died Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital in Savannah, Ga.
She was a retired legal secretary.
Survivors include sons, George H. Hartford of Newington, and Paul W. Lowe of Ludlow; sisters, Mary Alice Creech of Florence and Marie Speakes of Covington; one grandchild and three great-grandchildren.
Services and burial were Thursday in Savannah. Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home, Ludlow, is handling local arrangements.
Harold Edward Smith, 81, of Mt. Olivet, died Thursday at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Cynthiana. He was a retired Columbia Gas Co. employee and a member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.
He was a deacon, a Sunday school teacher and a lay minister with the church.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie Duncan Smith; sons,
Keith Smith of Atlanta, Herman Smith of Baltimore and Garry Smith of Franklin County; a daughter, Oneida Cooper of Mays Lick; a sister, Chloe Polly of Lackey, Ky.; five grandchildren, five step-grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and four step-great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.
Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. today at Robertson County Funeral Home, Mt. Olivet, and from 1 p.m. Saturday until the time of services at the church.
Burial will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
Memorials are suggested to the church.
Florence Marie Wright, 83, of Alexandria, died at 10:05 a.m. Thursday at Highlands of Ft. Thomas Nursing Home in Ft. Thomas.
She was a homemaker and a member of St. Mary Church, Alexandria. Her husband, Richard Wright, died in 1976.
Survivors include a brother, George Kool of Alexandria.
Mass of Christian burial will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the church.
Visitation will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Monday at Alexandria Funeral Home.
Burial will be in Alexandria Cemetery.
