Gill Clopton gave his time, talent and energy to shine a positive light on his community. He scanned tens of thousands of photos, documents as a way to preserve those bits of history and memories, file by file.
But friends who remember Clopton, who died Monday at the age of 61, have memories of him dropping by with a single photo of interest, covering high school sports and ringing the bell by the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas.
A visitation for Clopton will be held at Sossamon Funeral Home tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a funeral service Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Salvation Army on Ross Mill Road.
The Vance County Historical Society is collecting money to help purchase a marker for Clopton, according to Mark Pace, as a small way to show appreciation for all the work Clopton did on behalf of the historical society and for the genealogical society. Send checks or money orders made out to Vance County Historical Society, 11 E. Spring St., Oxford, NC 27565, with
“Memorial Fund for Gill Clopton” in the memo line. Or call 919.603.5182.
Pace said that he and Clopton both were Class of 1979 graduates of Vance Senior High School, and although their paths crossed when they lived and worked in Raleigh years ago, it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that the two discovered their shared enthusiasm for history.
“I’ve talked to him practically every day for the last ten years,” Pace said, recalling moments when they would ask each other obscure questions about local history.
Pace estimated that Clopton probably scanned as many as 60,000 photos, many from the local newspaper, but others from private sources and from other local agencies like the Henderson Police Department.
While talking on Thursday’s TownTalk, Pace and Bill Harris praised Clopton’s efforts and diligence to the ongoing archiving project.
“I feel very confident that the work he’s done…it will be out there and people can have access to it,” Pace said.
“Gill had the inclination to do it, he had the time to do it…and he had the meticulousness to want to sit there and want to do hours of work,” often tedious and monotonous.
“I can’t tell you how much people in the future will benefit from the work that Gill did,” Pace said.