Clarence Power Yates famously known as Green Hornet or PawPaw, was born in Temple, Texas on February 26th, 1927 to Elmore and Artie Yates. After a full 92 years he passed quietly in his daughters home while listening to his grandchildren tell stories. C.P. would not want to leave this world in a hospital that was not his style; however, he would want to go comfortably in a place he knew as a home filled with love, surrounded by the ones who he could still cherish.
If you knew C.P. you knew him as an avid, excited story teller. He could not tell a story without the use of his hands, it was part of his character and charm. One might find him telling the men stories of his time in WWII. He joined the United States Navy at the age of 16, on December 16, 1942 and served as a Seabee until June 26th, 1946.
In 1950, after the Navy and some travel he met Annie Ruth Preston. Their first date was a dance on New Year’s Eve, 1950 and married on April 14th, 1951. The New Year of 1952 they welcomed their only daughter Debra Ann Yates into the world. A few years later they moved into their home where C.P. lived until he got sick only a few weeks ago.
C.P. worked a few odd jobs, his first as a golf caddy before working at The Port of Houston on Dock 44. He then took a job at Champion Paper where he worked for 17 years in the Quality department over at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. On April 1, 1973 he began working at Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority where he would finish his career and retire on February 28, 1989.
In his free time he enjoyed woodworking, playing golf with his son-in-law and grandson and playing card games with the girls. After retirement, C.P. and Annie spent the rest of their years together traveling and spoiling their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. To their friends they might have been as C.P. and Annie Ruth but to everyone else they were MeeMaw and PawPaw. After, Annie passed in May, 2013 he filled his days at the Madison Jobe Senior Center playing pool, helping widows and widowers with their shopping and health care, and volunteering his time with Meals on Wheels.
Clarence Power spent his life always giving, never asking for himself. He was a man of honor, patience, integrity and grit. As Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” C. P. lived his life as such. He is preceded in death by his parents, Elmore and Artie Yates; sister, Lora Pearl Yates; brothers, Lloyd and Wilmer Yates, and Benjamin Walker; wife Annie Ruth Yates and son in law, David Michael Wright, Sr. He is survived by his daughter, Debra Ann Wright; his grandson and daughter in law, David and Brianna Wright; granddaughter, Dee Ann Wright; great-grandchildren Preston and Joseph Wright, Kevin Boudreau and wife Heather , Mackenzie Boudreau; and great-great-grandson Maximus Boudreau and several other family members.