The Murfreesboro Post, May 31, 2016
Ida Brewer with her father’s memorial brick.
The Tucker family moved to Rutherford County in the 1930s, settling in La Vergne. Clifford Tucker, the son of a farrier (blacksmith), lived out his adolescent years in the Jefferson Pike area – at that point, only a couple of homes had been built on that road.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Tucker answered the call like many men and women, serving in what was described as “the deadliest war in history.” As a young man he was sent to the Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, where some of the most horrendous and bloodiest battles were fought. Those battles played an essential part in winning the war. “He wouldn’t discuss a lot of what happened there, and that’s understandable,” said daughter Ida Brewer. After President Truman announced that the war was officially over, Clifford was ready to return home to La Vergne. But when his country called again, he decided to re-enlist in 1956. He later married his wife Hilda – cherishing a simpler life, the couple decided to build their home on the property he remembered from his youth.
Tucker continued to serve La Vergne in various ways as the community grew into a booming industrial city.
He always remained passionate about the city. There were times when a family might have gone hungry without Tucker’s generosity. Though he passed away in 1993, there is still a lasting presence Clifford Tucker left in the city. Brewer, his youngest daughter, who is employed at Tennessee Farmers Cooperative in La Vergne, recently paid tribute to her father by purchasing a brick for the Veterans Memorial Wall project. La Vergne is proud to have had a soldier, neighbor, and compassionate citizen who not only made his city proud but his country, too.
For more information about how you can purchase a brick to honor a Tennessean who served or is currently serving, visit the Buy-a-Brick page at www.lavergnetn.gov/?p=8116.
The City of La Vergne provided this content.