Clyde (Eagle Eye) W. Creech Sr. 89. passed away Saturday 25th, 2010 at the Good Samaritan Society Boise Village of Boise, Idaho. He was born in Basin, Wyoming on July 11, 1921. He was proceeded in death by Dorothy E. Creech, his wife of 65 years. Also proceeding him were 2 daughters; infant Carol E. Creech who died after only 4 days, and Shirley L. Musgrove of Boise who died April 17, 1995.
Clyde lived an exciting life. He lived as a hobo for about 3 years during which time he was in every state of the Union but Alaska & Maine. He worked on a cattle ranch, was a sheepherder for Andy Little, handled Dynamite for the Burlington Freight Line, and drove Hudson Tara-planes from Minnesota to Montana (both tandem and tractor-trailer rigs).
He was a Marine and a World War II Veteran. He received the Purple Heart when he was wounded in action on the island of Iwo Jima. His unit, The Fourth Marine Division, received a Presidential Unit Citation for Outstanding Performance, and another citation for Extraordinary Heroism in Action. He is listed as a World War II Honoree on the National WWII Memorial in Washington, DC. He was a brick mason for 28 years and worked all over the Northwest. He was the Recording Secretary and Business Agent for the Bricklayers Union for a time. He was one of the founders of The Delawares of Idaho, and he testified before the United States Senate in 1980. The Delawares of Idaho and the struggle to gain their rights back as Native Americans was a driving force in his life. Clyde held many offices for the tribe, and was ultimately the Chief of the Delawares of Idaho for many years.
He is survived by his children Marlene R. Menges of Boise, Idaho; Beverly D. Jenkins of Pendleton, Oregon; Rosmarie S. De Boer of Meridian, Idaho; Clyde W. Creech, Jr. of Boise, Idaho and Carl B. Creech of Tuscon, Arizona; as well as many grand children, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
A viewing will be held Friday, October 1st at 6 to 8 PM. At Accent Funeral Home, 1303 N. Main Street, Meridian, Idaho. Graveside services will be at the Meridian Cemetery at 895 E. Franklin Road, Meridian, Idaho at 10 AM Saturday, October 2nd.
Towards the end of his life Clyde and Dorothy were cared for by his daughter, Marlene Menges and her family, before Clyde moved on to the Boise Samaritan Village. Clyde’s family would like to extend a special thank you to the staff of the Good Samaritan Village, and Lisa Creech for their special care of Clyde.
Click on the pictures below to view a full sized version.
Here is a story that his daughter, Rosmarie DeBoer, found in his belongings. Click here to see it in his hand writing or you can read the text below.
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1. At three years old we moved to Billings MT, Vera was born.
2. At four we went to Wesley Idaho. We lived here about two and one half years. Uncle Bill and my dad were bootleggers for an old Indian woman
3. We moved to Ontario, Oregon in September I started to school, first grade, I only went about 1 month and then moved to Payette ID. Eddie had pneumonia and when he was able to move we to a house between New Plymouth and Meridian . I went to school in New Plymouth. Eddie had yellow jaundice. I milked cows morning and night, my pay was 2 gallons of milk per day.
Then mom left home and dad moved us kids in with grandma. I was about 7 years old. I went to school in New Plymouth Idaho. My Teacher told me she was going to
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push me as fast as could and try to get me caught up in the grade where I belonged. I made two grades that year, first and second.
That year at Halloween time the high school kids from New Plymouth came out to trick or treat. They didn’t ask for a treat, they were there to pull a trick on us. All the men were gone and just grandma and us kids were there alone. They let grandpas geese out. Two of these times grandma went to the closet and got out the double barreled shot gun and went down to the back porch, pointed the thing up in the air and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. Grandpa didn’t reload it
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before putting it away, but the kids heard the snap of the hammer fall and they took off running. One hollered out “Run fellows run! That old fool got no more sense than to shoot us all!” We had about 5 acres of grain that they hadn’t cut yet and those kids were clearing the tops of the grain as they ran. They never did come back out there.
That same year Grandpa, dad and all of the men went to Jerome Idaho to work in the spud harvest. When they left grandma told them to send money so she could get some groceries for us kids.
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and her, Well the first week went by and all we had to eat was butter nut beans three times a day and at the end of the week we took the horse and buggy and went to town to get the mail but no mail we went home to eat beans for another week then went to town but no mail, no money. Grandma wrote a letter to grandpa and my dad and said send some money for groceries and we went back to beans for another week. Went to town again grandma ask for the mail and there was a letter from dad. He said he had sent some money the first week
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and he would send more in a couple of days so grandma turned back to the window and asked the mail clerk if there wasn’t another letter there for her he said no more mail this made grandma mad she told him he was lying and she would give him 2 minutes to dig out one more letter or she pull him out the little window and when she was finished with him there would be nothing but a grease spot left on the floor. You know he found the other letter,
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it was laying on the counter where he had been sorting the mail. Was he surprised!
That winter while living with grandpa and grandma I went to school in new Plymouth Idaho. I had to walk one and one half miles to the bus and then ride it for ten miles. Things were rough that winter after grandpa and dad came home. Grandpa went to trapping for skunks, mink, muskrats and any other fur bearing animals available. I can remember grandpa bringing muskrats home and cleaning them up good and then we would eat them. This was all the meat we had that winter.
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Then in the spring we moved to Emmett Idaho. Dad bought a touring Chevrolet sedan. He tore the back seat out of it and started peddling fruit and he did pretty good. That is he made a living for us cause mom had come back home and her and dad went back together. We lived in a little house in the Williams and it only had four rooms, 2 bedrooms, a front room and kitchen. Eddie and I slept on the back porch. Dad just put canvas around it but it sure was cold out there. Later
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we moved into a tent house that Dad built on the old man Grogan place we lived there one whole year and that tent sure was cold in the winter then from there we moved out to a another tar paper shack. It was eight feet wide and twenty-four feet long and that is the year I started to working out. I went out for Andy Little, a big sheep man in Emmett. I drove dirich cart while we were stocking hay. I received one dollar a day and my board and room. We put in 10 hours a day. That was the year I turned 10 years old. I worked about 4 years for him in the summer time. I was also the mule skinner.
