From the Butler Eagle:
James Clements was an English teacher who assigned students to write stories of Butler and its heroes
Sunday, August 28, 2005
By Alisha Hipwell
After nearly 30 years as an English teacher, James C. Clements grew bored with the traditional term paper assignment.
So the Butler Area High School teacher devised a more meaningful way to challenge students in his advanced placement English class: He had them write a book.
"He decided to have the students research stories he had heard about the Butler area," said his wife, Charlotte Clements.
Under his direction, Mr. Clements' students researched, wrote and published "Builders Dreamers Scandals Schemers" and "Favorite Sons and Sons of Guns," two books about historical incidents in Butler County. Mr. Clements also initiated and edited a third book written by his senior students at Butler Area High School, "Silent Heroes Among Us," which won a National Freedom Foundation Award in 1997.
Mr. Clements, of Slippery Rock Township, died of a heart attack Aug. 19 in Butler Memorial Hospital. He was 61.
The inspiration for the third book came from Mr. Clements' neighbor, World War II veteran Ralph "Hap" Nicholas.
Nicholas recalled that as he and Mr. Clements sat and chatted one afternoon, the conversation turned to Nicholas' experiences as a B-24 navigator. Nicholas flew 20 missions over Germany.
"When I finished, Jim said, 'Well, there you have it. You became 20 years old again while you talked. My students can write your story,'" Nicholas said.
And they did. Mr. Clements dispatched his students to interview local veterans of the Eighth Air Force and record their exploits. "The veterans told the students things they hadn't told their wives and children," Mr. Clements' wife recalled.
The stories became the book, "Silent Heroes Among Us."
"I think it's an extraordinary series of dissertations on what we did during World War II," Nicholas said.
Mr. Clements received a grant from the Golden Tornado Foundation to fund his students' book projects. Proceeds from the sale of the books went back into the foundation.
Mr. Clements retired from teaching shortly after "Silent Heroes Among Us" was published, but he promptly took on another book project with his father-in-law, the late William Robert Brandberg. Using Brandberg's collection of vintage postcards, Mr. Clements wrote "Lost Butler," a book that told the story of the area's vanishing past.
Mr. Clements was a graduate of Butler Area High School and received a bachelor's degree in English from Thiel College and a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught briefly at Brentwood High School, then taught English for 32 years at Butler Area High School.
Mr. Clements was a movie buff who worked for 10 years as a projectionist and manager at the now defunct Plaza Theatre in Butler.
"If anyone wanted to know a piece of movie trivia, Jim was the one to ask," his wife said.
He also was a talented speaker and storyteller who had engagements with a number of community organizations. He particularly enjoyed telling ghost stories and was scheduled to tell Halloween tales for the city of Butler this year.
In recent years, Mr. Clements was active in Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni Association at Thiel College. He served in numerous positions in the organization and had recently received its Outstanding Alumni Award.
They call it Lookout Point Bridge.
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