Published Friday, July 28, 2006, Lakeland Ledger, Lakeland Florida Robert Clanton, 84, Clanton's Wrecker Service By _Rhonda Gentle_ (javascript:NewWindow(376,130,'/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=rhogen&category=STAFF');) The Ledger FORT MEADE -- For many years, Mr. Robert Lovett Clanton was just a phone call away when residents of Polk County needed their vehicles towed and repaired. "Everybody knew him. We went several times to Wauchula, Zolfo Springs -- he was known all over this part of Florida," his wife of 59 years, Rena Belle Clanton, said. "He had six wreckers; he built four of them. He took the trucks and built the wreckers on the back." The retired owner of Clanton's Wrecker Service in Fort Meade died of heart failure Thursday (July 27, 2006) at home. He was 84. Born in Sparks, Ga., on Jan. 25, 1922, he enlisted in the National Guard at the age of 16. Mr. Clanton was 17 years old when World War II erupted, and he served as a member of the 101st Airborne Division of the Army. "He was with one of the first troops that went overseas when World War II broke out. He went overseas on the Queen Mary," Rena Clanton said. While in New Guinea, a mortar blast that struck in front of him cost Mr. Clanton his eyesight. He came to Fort Meade from Zolfo Springs in 1961 and started the wrecker service he and his wife operated together for 35 years. Mr. Clanton learned to play the guitar at an early age and during the 1970s he was a member of the band Palmetto Bluegrass. The band performed throughout the state of Florida as well as in Alabama and Georgia. He was a member of the Disabled American Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, and the American Legion in Wauchula. He was a member of First Church of God in Fort Meade. In addition to his wife, Rena Belle Clanton, Mr. Clanton is survived by his sons, Chuck Daniels, California, Raymond Clanton, Lacey Clanton, David Clanton, all of Fort Meade; daughter, Frances Poole, Cadwell, Ga.; nine grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 this evening at Moody-Brant Funeral Chapel, Fort Meade. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home chapel.