James Allen Clapper's Obituary
James Allen Clapper of Lehigh Acres, Florida died peacefully November 30th after a brief illness. He was born June 15, 1947 in Canton, Ohio to John and Doris Clapper of Robertsville, Ohio.
Jim was raised on the family dairy farms in Robertsville and Oneida, Ohio. He loved being a dairyman and caretaker of land with his early roots influenced by his father’s leadership and care of their farms as an example. He and his brother, Denny, raised black angus and showed them at the Stark County Fair. He graduated from Minerva High School in 1966 and was a member of Future Farmers of America. In the FFA he learned to weld which came in handy when repairing farm equipment. Jim attended Walsh College and was a lifelong employee of Hoover Company in North Canton, Ohio as an IT supervisor before retiring to Florida in 2002 from Minerva, Ohio. He also served as an auxiliary policeman in Minerva for 10 years.
Jim met Carol Dungan as she walked by his home on West Plain Street in Minerva to visit a friend on her lunch breaks. He was residing the exterior of the duplex and the lunchtime walks soon became a daily routine with Jim proposing to her on New Year’s Eve 1972. They were married on April 15, 1973 at United Methodist Church in Minerva, Ohio. Jim and Carol owned the Foxy Lady beauty shop in Minerva before relocating to Florida.
After moving to Florida with Jim’s enjoyment of the outdoors, he returned to caring for the land by establishing a lawncare business, Lawn Rangers. The thing he quickly learned about Florida was the heat was a lot different than Ohio; nonetheless he had a thriving business.
Like his father Jim had a fixation with cars which led him to owning a sweet 1972 red convertible Corvette, a 1977 red and white Chevy Monte Carlo and a 1982 red Camaro Z28. His other hobby was firearms with his favorite gun owned being a 1911 Colt 45 automatic.
He is survived by his loving wife Carol, his son Doug of Lakeland, Florida and three brothers, Denny (Vicki) of Inman, South Carolina, Dale (Brenda) of Fort Myers, Florida and Jon (Kori) of Lehigh Acres, Florida, Aunt Evelyn Pikulik of Canton, Ohio, sisters-in law Janice Roach of Minerva, Ohio, Cathy Wickersham of Lehigh Acres, Florida, Barbara Wickersham of Gordon, Wisconsin and special nieces, nephews and cousins.
He attended Rise Christian Church in Lehigh Acres, Florida. A Memorial service will be held Saturday, December 10th at 2:00 at Christ Memorial Church in Robertsville, Ohio.
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