Charles “Hovey” Clifford

Tribute Wall

From WHOI Trustee/Corporation Member Jaimie Austin....
I knew Hovey from my first days at WHOI in the summer of 1973 as an incoming G&G JP student.  I was a certified scuba diver - but not a WHOI certified diver - and Hovey helped train me for that certification. During those days (the 1970s), I also played on the WHOI softball team with Hovey, Charlie Olson, Dave Ross, and other luminaries of the period.  We were never very good - but we had a lot of fun. I have been a Corporation member since 1997 and a Trustee since 2007.  All during that time, Hovey and Charlie stood by the defibrillator at our meetings and made sure the old geezers did not succumb from too much good food and drink.  We had a laugh at EVERY one of those events. I will miss him—-we all will.

From Hugh Livingston...
I am honored to pay tribute to a wonderful man and former colleague. I knew Hovey when I was at WHOI during 1962-1997. I knew him best in his Chemistry Department - then in Redfield.  The outpouring of love for Hovey speaks volumes for who he was. Stella and I send our condolences to Sheila!

From Ed Popowitz, Bosun R/V Atlantis....
Hovey was a great person. And someone who truly embodied the spirit of Woods Hole. He made WHOI a better place, and always made people smile.

From Carl Wirsen.......
Hovey was truly an extraordinary human being and very deservedly a legend as Joanne noted in the obituary. I first began my lifelong friendship with Hovey going back to the mid 1960's when we met at UMass Amherst. I was close to graduating and he was back at college to finish his studies. Interestingly, we were both resident student counselors at Baker House on campus. After I graduated it was a 5 year hiatus before we met again. I was walking down the hall in Redfield in 1969 having been at WHOI for a year and this tall big smiley guy came down the hall to go into Stan Watson's lab next to ours. I said- "Is that you Hov"? And it was! That started the continuation of our friendship for the next 55 years at WHOI.

I'm sure all of you who knew Hovey, whether it was work related, sports, diving, tours, Nattie lunch/beer group or other extracurricular activities, could write a book about your own personal memories of time spent with him. I am just going to mention a couple of special things that he and I shared away from WHOI. I will mention first, by way of thanks, that it was Hovey who"sucked" me into becoming a tour guide at WHOI. As Joanne said, everybody loved Hovey's tours and I am so thankful that he "sucked" me into doing it. I have absolutely loved doing it for so many years.

Now one memory has to deal with both Hovey's (and Rose and Sheila's) and My (and Joye's) deep love of Golden Retrievers. All of us have been so very fortunate to have been the caregivers and receivers of love from many, many of these special dogs over decades. We shared many times patting each other's "buddies".

The other memory has to do with the fact that if you asked me in my late 40's or 50's would I ever chase this little round white ball all over huge grassy fields I would have said "never". Well, you know what they say about never.  Both of us started late in life to take a couple lessons and then for the next 10 years three of us (me, Hovey and Dave Haden) played golf at least once a week all those years. Now we never earned the title of golf pro for any particular course we played, but we certainly achieved the title of "best of the best" hitters of the slice and hook.  The 3 of us shared thousands and thousands of laughs doing it.

Hovey was truly a very special individual and I am sure all of us will miss him dearly. I will end this by saying that whenever I want to recall something from the part of my aging brain that deals with good times and memories with friends it is most certain that those spent with Hovey is front and foremost.

From John W. Farrington, Dean emeritus WHOI.....
I met Hovey Clifford soon after my arrival at WHOI in the summer of 1971 as a Postdoc in the Chemistry Department on the 3rd floor of Redfield Building. Hovey was in the Biology Department on the 1st and 2nd floor. In summer of 1972 we participated in R/V Gosnold, Cruise 187 to the New York Bight dumpsite where Hovey, Gil Rowe and Ken Smith undertook deep scuba dives to assess oxygen consumption by the benthos at the sediment-water interface. I sampled the surface mud using a grab sampler. This was the first of several cruises over the next 15 years in which Hovey and I participated, not counting many local one-day cruises on R/V Asterias in local waters.

We worked together 1978 to 1990 when Hovey was in the Chemistry Department. He was our group’s lead person preparing for cruises, sampling, and returning equipment and samples to WHOI. He was an exceptional WHOI Technical Staff member: efficient and calm, e.g. stalwart even in the midst of offloading equipment and samples in Callao, Peru (port City of Lima) as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrillas were blowing up a nearby power stations, assassinating the Peruvian finance minister, and causing other havoc in the summer of 1987.

My wife Shirley and I were friends with Hovey and his late wife Rose and his daughter Sheila. Our daughter Karen was a classmate in Falmouth Schools and is a friend of Sheila. Hovey had a deep love for and devotion to Rose and Sheila.

Others have noted and I agree whole heartedly: Hovey was a remarkable WHOI colleague/employee and community citizen. I cherish my memories of Hovey.

From Ken Buesseler….
One of my first projects in the 1980’s as a JP student involved diving in a local pond with Hovey leading the way to the bottom to collect our precious bottom mud sample.  I learned quickly that his many talents were only overshadowed by his generous spirit.  His smile, was infectious, and I feel lucky to have known him in several of his roles at WHOI, including along with the many MCG kids who knew him in as the only real Santa every December.  What a spirit.  What a joy.  He made this world a better place to be.

From Roger Goldsmith.....
Perhaps forgotten these many years later was Hovey Clifford's contributions toward establishing the volleyball era at Woods Hole. Before Clark Building opened there were noontime games with a volleyball court set up in the School Street Parking lot, well actually the driveway through the lot. Perhaps the post-holes are still there. During winter the game moved inside to the Woods Hole Community Center. It was a little cramped for a big guy like Hovey but it was the place to be at noon. Later a court was created in the Clark South parking lot and eventually a sand court was built by the Coastal Research Laboratory. Hovey's enthusiastic participation was instrumental in the growth of the sport and there was never a shortage of participants.

Hovey was also a key player, both on the court and organizationally with John Mason and Charlie Olsen, in the formation of what, at least informally, was known as the WHOI Volleyball Club, a team of players who travelled around New England to at least participate in various tournaments (and perhaps more importantly Hovey knew the directions to Valle's afterwards). That team eventually included players from all over the Cape.

Perhaps Hovey's most noteworthy contribution toward the promotion of volleyball in the area was his guidance in helping create the recreational league at the Falmouth High School. There were nine teams that drew co-educational participation from not just WHOI but town-wide. Equally important, it provided an opportunity for young men to play the sport, there not being a boy's team at the high school level. Over the years there were several classes of boys who grew to love the sport and continue to play in college and beyond, coaching others, continuing the legacy Hovey fostered.

That was the Hovey we knew.