SPEEDWELL, Tenn. — This year on July 28th, Speedwell, Tenn., resident Clyde Bullard will turn 100-years-old.

One might expect the centurion to be residing in a nursing home or be confined to a wheel chair, but lack of mobility isn’t much of a problem for Bullard, and the concept of down time has never exactly fit into his philosophy.

“Eat light and work hard,” advised Clyde, who credits the habits with his enduring life.

In fact, he continues to work on his farm and maintains the four acres of property on which he built his house in 1954, mowing the grass and weed-eating regularly.

Bullard has worked in three different industries: production, construction, and farming. Each career spanned that of a usual life-long career, 35-years in a paper mill, more than 30 in construction and countless years of farming.

Born on a family farm in Blue Spring Hollow in 1910, Clyde’s work in farming began early.

“We raised horses, cattle, chicken, pigs, just about everything,” said Clyde of the farm purchased by his grandfather more than 150 years ago.

Clyde was one of six children of Jess and Sally Ann (Monday) Bullard who grew up learning the ins-and-outs of the farming trade. The vast farm was occupied by other relatives as well, and Clyde still retains more than 60 acres.

In addition to working as a farmer, Jess Bullard supplemented his income by processing, shipping and selling timber.

“He had his own timber, he’d cut timber, you know, and take them down to the river, and build a raft out of them. Then when it come a tide, he’d turn them loose and take them down to Chattanooga,” Clyde explained.

In March of 1917, the men were on a raft during a particularly harrowing storm, when the cabin, which sat atop the raft and served as the only source of warmth for the men, was detached by strong winds. All of the men developed pneumonia, and Clyde’s father didn’t survive.

“We didn’t have it that bad,” said Clyde. “My mother had plenty, my Dad left her plenty.”

Clyde and the other children in the community were educated at the Braden School, located about one mile away from the home in which Clyde was born and raised. His focus shifted from education to work early in his life and by the age of 16, he was on his way to Detroit in a 1924 Model T to seek employment.

“I went to Michigan in 1926,” Clyde remembered. “I went up there to work, there wasn’t any work around here then.”

Clyde went to work for the Consolidated Paper Company in Monroe, Mich., where he remained for 35 years.

During his time in Michigan, the grave economic event known as the Great Depression swept through the country. Clyde and his family didn’t face the dire circumstances that many others did. While working at the Consolidated Paper Company, he accepted a voluntary lay-off to allow a man with a family to support to continue working. For about 14 months he returned to Speedwell and worked on his family farm.

“It was rough, that depression was,” remarked Clyde. “It wasn’t for us, we had plenty. I was in Michigan part of the time, it was bad up there.”

It was in Michigan that Clyde met his wife, Zola Pollack, a Polish immigrant who had spent years on a farm in Indiana with her family before going to Michigan to find work for herself.

Clyde met Zola at a garage furnished by the landlord of the apartments in which they both lived. Clyde stayed in the complex that housed the men, and Zola lived in the complex for women. The two had met in passing, but had formed no real acquaintance until a bout of inclement weather took their interaction to a new level.

“I met her at a frozen lock,” recalled Clyde, of the day he found Zola unable to get into her car. “It had been raining and freezing, and she had left her lock up; it was frozen down in there and she couldn’t get her key in.”

Always a gentleman, Clyde offered to take Zola to work and pick her up after her shift. Within a week, the two were an item and had even planned a trip to Indiana to meet Zola’s family.

Zola went home with Clyde to Blue Springs after the wedding. For the first three decades of their marriage, Clyde and Zola lived in Michigan. Clyde, who had assisted his uncle with construction work as a teenager, built the two a home.

Clyde continued to work at the paper company, with the exception of a five year stint during World War II.

During the war, he manufactured B-24 bombers at the Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

“It took us a month to finish the first one,” stated Clyde. The plant later produced several planes per day.

After more than 30 years in Michigan, Clyde and Zola spent a few years in Indiana with her family, where Clyde worked with a refrigeration company.

In 1954, Clyde returned home to the family farm. He built a house for himself and Zola on a stretch of property owned by his family, and still lives there today.

Beginning in the 1950s, Clyde and his cousin, Alf Bullard started a construction company in Speedwell, and built numerous homes in Tennessee. The last home that Clyde completed was finished when he was 75, and was for his great-niece, Pat.

Since his return, Clyde has also continued farming. Much of the land that was owned by the family has been sold, but more than 60 acres are still in his possession. Until seven-years ago, Bullard raised tobacco and he continues to assist in the collection of hay from his land.

Although Clyde lost Zola in 1990, he continues to be surrounded by family, including a host of nieces and nephews, spanning several generations.

He will celebrate his birthday on July 25th surrounded by family and friends, all of whom wish him many more to come.

Lorie Settles is a staff writer for the Daily News. She may be contacted via e-mail at lsettles@heartlandpublications.com.