Clarence Ray Dunlap

Clarence Ray Dunlap died in Columbia on September 4, 2026. He was 87. Born in Columbia on April 14, 1939, raised among Appalachian Midwest manners that never needed a speech. He learned early that a day is something you finish, not something you wait for. He read grain before he cut it. A faded measuring tape still hung in his shop; waste offended him more than noise. Colleagues still mention a measuring tape faded to illegibility. He married Betty in 1963. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised a daughter through public schools and ordinary weather. After Betty died in 2019, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember covered dishes that arrived without a speech. He liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. He died in Columbia, among streets he never needed to explain. The key is still under the same brick.