CAMDEN — C.W. Bird
C.W. (Charles) Bird, age 98 formerly of Camden, AR passed away August 31, 2019 in Temple, TX. He was preceded in death in 2004, by his wife of 60 years, Clyde Marie Williams Bird. The 1939 graduate of Harmony Grove High School was intimately involved with many of the major events in U.S. history including the Great Depression, World War II and America’s successfully-manned moon landing. Born June 16, 1921, he was nine years old and being raised by his single mother with five siblings when the Great Depression arrived.
At 18, he began a six-year (1939-45) stint in the U.S. Navy assigned to the USS Russell (DD414). His first action was in the North Atlantic where, in 1940 when England stood alone against German and Italy, his ship escorted the first 50 “Destroyers for Leases” to Great Britain, as well as conducting anti-submarine patrols with at least two German U-boats kills. After Pearl Harbor, the Russell transferred to the South Pacific. There he saw action in nine major battles with the Japanese including Coral Sea and Midway. The Russell was under heavy fire when it took survivors off of all four American battleships sunk during WWII: USS Hornet, USS Lexington, USS Wasp and USS Yorktown.
During one stretch of that duty, the Russell stayed at sea for 101 consecutive days, the longest any ship in the fleet was out of port.
Except for being the Finance Director/City Clerk for the City of Camden (1959-60), he spent his professional career as a civil servant. This included positions at the Naval Ammunition Depot Shumaker in Camden, White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruses, NM, U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik, Iceland, the Naval Space Surveillance Center in Dahlgren, VA and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He joined NASA in 1964 and became director of three divisions as was involved in the Gemini and Apollo programs (including all six of the manned lunar landings) and Skylab.
He and his wife helped organize Calvary Baptist Church in Camden and were longtime members of Cullendale First Baptist Church, where he was ordained as a deacon. They helped launch Southern Baptist mission work in Iceland and also spent a year in Kenya working with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In Texas, they were active in Memorial Baptist Church, Pasadena.
He is survived by two sons and their families: David Bird and Marilyn Bird and their two daughters and sons-in-law—Kimberly and Gary Lamm and children Cameron, Courtney and Caleb; and Stephanie and Richard Millington and children Emily, Sarah, Katie, and Tyler all from Temple, Texas; Craig and Melissa Bird of San Antonio and their two sons and daughters-in-law—Coby and Amy Bird and children Aza, Elena and Caden of Fort Worth; and Brant and Keri Bird and children, Madelyn and Toby of Pleasanton, Texas.
Proctor Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
The funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. today - Saturday, Sept. 14 - at Proctor Funeral Home, 442 Jefferson Street SW, Camden. Burial will be at Chapel Hill Cemetery near Sparkman.
To sign the online guest register visit www.proctorfuneralhome.com.