Clayton U. Emery , 93 , of Sunrise , FL , entered eternal life on Monday , January 3 0 , 202 3 .

Clay was born April 7 th , 1929, to James and Verlie Emery in Lone Oak, a small farming community near Blythe ville, Arkansas. He was one of eleven children , three brothers : James, Lester , Otto and seven sisters: Sally, Louise, Louette, Dorothy , Virginia, Audrey and Bobbie . Clay was the last surviving Emery of his family .

When Clay was an infant, he contracted Polio and could not walk until age eight. He worked hard to regain his ability to wal k and due to this effort he was able to join the military to serve his country.

He is survived by h is beloved w ife , Lillian Micheel , formerly of Germantown, IL. They were married in Hayward , CA in 1952 a nd she accompanied him around the world with each military assignment.

They raised four children : Clayton J. of Davie, FL ( wife Ellen) ; Barbara J. of Coral Springs , FL ; Teresa L. of Margate, FL (husband Joe) ; and Linda G. of Tamarac, FL .

Also left to cherish h is memory are h is five grandchildren, Brett (wife Danielle) of Altamonte Springs , FL ; Carina (husband Nick) of Lake side, CA ; Adam of Margate, FL ; Alex of Miami Beach, FL and Felicia Lily of Boulder, CO

Clay was overjoyed with his two great grandchildren: Bretton , age seven and Logan age two of Altamonte Springs, FL.

Clay lived an incredible life, born during the depression to a hard-working family, Clay joined the military and served during the occupation of Germany, the Korean War and Viet Nam Conflict . H e was honored and proud to serve his country in the Air Force for twenty-three years. Clay had numerous assignments: Anchorage Alaska when it was a US territory, Goose Bay Labrador, Germany , Italy and eight US base assignments . Clay retired from the Air F orce in 1969 and entered the private sector working for Racal Datacom (formerly Milgo ) for twenty years where he managed Field Service, Sales and was a Sales Train er .

Clay was a devoted and a loving family man. His favorite role was husband to his beautiful " Diamond Lil " . Clay enjoyed regular family barbeques , going out on his boat , fishing or just cruising down the intracoastal. You could find Clay regularly in the garage tinkering, he could fix anything . He loved help ing his whole family , teaching the kids things like changing the oil or tire, he was also a master Sales T rainer, he helped teach these skills to his kids going into sales . He loved to travel with family and he did get to revisit all of his military bases during his retirement .

He was the most patient and selfless person, always compassionate and caring, he never had a harsh word for anyone. Clay's motto and recommendation for being successful and moving forward was "Just put one foot in front of the other. "

Clay and Lillian were thrilled to celebrate their 71 st wedding anniversary on January 12 th , 2023, after just returning from a wonderful family reunion Caribbean cruise in late December.

We are grateful for the ti m e we had and will cherish our memories of Clay; he was that rare, unique , one-of-a-kind hero to all he met and will be eternally missed by his family and friends.

In lieu of flowers h is family requests prayers . Visitation will be held at Coral Springs Funeral Home on February 8 th , 202 3 from 2 -6:00PM . Funeral Mass will be held at St. Bernard's Catholic Church on February 9 th at 11 AM . F ollowing the Mass , C lay will be taken to the South Florida National Cemetery for the 2PM formal military committal service honoring our hero .