BIO FOR METHODISTS

Larry & Ellie

California

1987

Robert Lawrence Clayton's heart took its last beat and he drew his last breath on December 23, 2016. He died in Ocala, Florida after a fall which broke his leg. He had been in the ICU and at Hospice of Marion County for three weeks when he made the final step out of this world into the Great Beyond. His ninety year old heart was not strong enough to sustain him through a slow and arduous recovery. When he was completely ready to go, he left gently and (using some words from William Blake) entered the "immense world of delight" closed to our "senses five".

He was born March 7, 1926, the son of Robert Lawrence Clayton, Sr, a Methodist minister in the Louisiana Conference for 36 years, and Mary Maude Leech Clayton of Memphis, Tennessee. He was raised in parsonages of the numerous small Methodist Churches scattered throughout the state of Louisiana. His love of learning was conveyed to him primarily through his mother who gave him piano and French lessons before he started school. Of his father he said, "Daddy's preaching was very compelling. I was 9, and one day when my Sunday Teacher and her husband went down to the alter to join the church, I joined them. I was received on profession of faith just like anyone else would have been. Not a lot was made of it at home."

In January 1943, when sixteen years old, he enrolled in Duke University on a scholarship provided for the children of Methodist ministers. When he neared 18 years of age and would soon become eligible for the draft, he withdrew from Duke to become qualified as a radio operator as an alternative to being drafted into the army. By serving the United States as a Radio Officer on merchant ships during World War II, he had the opportunity to expand his horizons through traveling the world. Following the war he re-enrolled in Duke and was graduated in 1949 with a BA and a Phi Beta Kappa key.

In 1951, during the Korean Conflict, being once again eligible for the draft, he enlisted in the Navy and served until 1953. In 1956, while working as a research chemist in New Orleans, he realized that his life was empty without God. As soon as he began seeking God he found that God was seeking him. He responded to God's love by offering himself in service to Him. He later stated that what happened to him at the age of 30 "was without question the most important event of my life." Following that awakening he lived and served God out of gratitude for that experience.

He enrolled in the New Orleans Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in March 1957 and sought trial membership with the New Orleans District of the Methodist Church. He was admitted on probationary status in 1958, and completed his Bachelor of Divinity in 1960. His ordination as a Deacon was in 1959 and as an Elder in 1960. He married Eleanor May Babylon in the Algiers United Methodist Church on December 21, 1957.

In the Louisiana Conference he served St. James UMC (1958-59), Angie UMC (1959-61) and Varnado UMC (1959-61). After he became enamored with the mountains of North Carolina he sought a transfer to the Western North Carolina Conference. District Superintendent Rev. Garland Stafford arranged his appointment to the Millers Creek Charge (1961-66) which included Millers Creek UMC , Union UMC , Arbor Grove UMC and Charity UMC. During his tenure the charge was split into two: Millers Creek and Charity as one charge and Union and Arbor Grove as the other.

While he was living and working in Millers Creek, the Lord opened to him a ministry to alcoholics. In 1966 he was appointed to the position of NC State Probation Officer for Alcoholics where he was employed for eleven years while living in Winston Salem, N.C. He found alcoholics particularly responsive to the ministry of compassionate concern which he could offer them as they pursued recovery. But he relentlessly desired opportunities to grow and learn and so followed a leading to participate in the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C., a model church which urged its members to follow an inward and outward journey. A rich period of serving and developing followed as the family moved to the Washington metropolitan area in 1976. The Western North Carolina Conference appointed him to his ministries to alcoholics and to his ministries through the Church of the Savior. He located in 1978 and retired in 1979.

The resources available in Washington gave him greater opportunity to pursue his intellectual interests. He became fascinated by the poet William Blake whose spiritual teachings were to influence his thinking and living through the rest of his life. In the early eighties he wrote an unpublished book which he named Ram Horn'd with Gold, a commentary on the spiritual life and work of William Blake. As computer resources became more available he continued to improve his book with pictures and links and by publishing electronically. To encourage others to study Blake he began a blog in 2004 and named it William Blake: Religion and Psychology. There are more than 2000 posts to the blog which show Blake's images, follow his development, and present exerts from his poetry. An important feature of the blog is relating Blake's poetry to Biblical quotations.

Two other ministries he continued to engage in during his retirement years were leading Bible Study and visiting the sick. [He liked to lead Bible Study in small groups using student centered methods. He would get together a few people from diverse backgrounds and encourage them to freely react to the Prophets and the Gospel. The movement of the Spirit in such circumstances could be relied upon.]

Following his own open heart surgery in 2000 his ministry included volunteering weekly at Munroe Regional Medical Center to visit and pray with heart patients. He never flagged in his efforts to teach spiritual truth and to encourage and support those who were weak or suffering.

He is survived by Eleanor Babylon Clayton, his wife of fifty-nine years, who was born in New Orleans, La. on March 16, 1937, and his three sons: Paul Martin Clayton, an accountant, who was born in New Orleans, La. on October 9, 1958; Mark John Clayton, a college professor, who was born in New Orleans, La. on September 13, 1960; and Robert Edwin Clayton, a psychotherapist, who was born on May 31, 1965 in North Wilkesboro, N.C. His memorial service was conducted in Florida on January 1, 2017 in the manner of Quakers at the Gainesville Friends Meetinghouse. His ashes will be scattered in places he loved both in the mountains and near the oceans.

With the Biblical Job he could say, "The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

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