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Chapel services will be held Monday, July 19, 10:00 a.m., at Hillcrest Mortuary for C. L. Meek of Lamont. Viewing will be at Hillcrest on Sunday from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. C. L. was born in Maxwell, Oklahoma on February 15, 1915 and passed away Tuesday morning, July 13, 2004. A loving husband, father and grandfather, he was enjoying retirement at home until he fell and broke his hip on December 17, 2003. He battled complications for 6 1/2 months before joining members of his large family in Heaven.
He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Fanny Meek; and three children, Calvin and Clara Meek of Lamont, Uzella Harrison of Clearlake and Darline and Gary Banister of Morgan Hill. There are nine grandchildren, nine great grandchildren and one great great granddaughter.
One of ten children, C. L. has one surviving sister, Lillian WIlliams of Bakersfield and a host of extended family and close friends. He is preceded in death by his parents, Emmit and Viola Meek; brothers, Willie, Jim, Alvie and R. A.; sisters, Pearl, Leslie, Iona and Roberta; and three granddaughters, Cheryl, Mackenzie and Stephanie.
Born on a farm in Oklahoma, C. L. grew up during World War I, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl years of the Bible Belt area. Soon after he was married, he and Fanny headed for California in a '29 Ford. They spent the winter of 1937 in a tent/cabin at the "government camp" two miles south of Lamont. They returned briefly to Oklahoma and then back to California to stay in 1939. This time C. L. went to work for one of the Frick brothers and lived in a camp located on the ranch. He was joined by other members of his family who worked a variety of agricultural related jobs and for a while had "Meek Brothers Trucking: business - working the fields during the day and hauling product to L.A. at night.
With the outbreak of World War II, C. L. got a job in construction building Army barracks at Camp Roberts and later at Oxnard and Oakland. He was then drafted and served in the Army near the end of the war.
After his discharge, C. L. returned to Lamont and resumed work in the building trades. He helped build the original Mobil Home assembly line in Bakersfield. Over the years, he laid hardwood floors, contracted paint and drywall (Meek's Drywall, 1950s), built custom homes, worked as a superintendent for school construction, built cabinets, and countless other construction jobs including helping build his own and his children's houses. He is a lifetime member of the International Order of Painters and has a fifty-year pin from the Carpenter's Unions, both Northern and Southern California.
In the early 1970s, he was hired to repair and paint a vandalized and burned classroom at Lamont School. Upon completion, he was hired full-time by the school district to build, repair and maintain all buildings in the four schools. He worked there for over ten years until retirement in 1983. During those years he totally painted all four schools, remodeled every classroom, upgraded all cafeterias, built a multi-purpose room, built one of the finest Middle School gymnasiums in the county at Mt. View and so much more. Always the worker, C. L. continued to build in his shop at home and always had a project in the works - if not for himself or his family, then for a friend or the church.
Soft spoken and highly religious, C. L. was a doer, not a talker. Everyone liked and respected him because he was completely honest and dependable. His word was the only contract he ever needed and his work was always of the highest quality. If you've read Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation," you have an appreciation of the era and the man we've lost. C. L. Meek is another of those irreplaceable men who will be sorely missed by all who have come in contact with him.
On behalf of C. L., the family would like to extend thanks and appreciation to all who have shown love and support during this time.
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