If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Liberty
Date of Passing Aug 24, 1998
Location of Interment East Fork Cemetery - East Fork, Mississippi
Wall/Plot Coordinates East Side 2nd plot from road
Howard Gerald "Jerry" Clower (September 28, 1926 â?? August 24, 1998) was a popular country comedian best known for his stories of the rural south and nicknamed "The Mouth of Mississippi".
Clower was born in Liberty, Mississippi, and began a 2-year stint in the Navy immediately after graduating from high school in 1944. Upon his discharge, in 1946, he was a Radioman Third Class (RMN3). Assigned to the USS Bennington, trained as an Amphibious Assault Radioman.
He studied agriculture at Mississippi State University, where he played college football and was a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. After finishing school, in 1951, Clower worked as a county agent and later as a seed salesman. He became a fertilizer salesman for Mississippi Chemical in 1954.
By this time, he had developed a reputation for telling funny stories to boost his sales. Tapes of Clower's speaking engagements wound up in the hands of Edwin "Big Ed" Wilkes and Bud Andrews in Lubbck, Texas, who had him make a better quality recording which they promoted. MCA Records later awarded "The Coon Hunt" a platinum album for sales in excess of $1 million at the retail level.
At first, Clower took orders at his speaking engagements, selling 8000 copies on the Lemon record label. In time, Wilkes sent a copy to Grant Turner at WSM radio in Nashville, and when Turner played it on the air, Clower said "that thing busted loose". MCA was soon knocking on Clower's door offering him a contract. Once MCA began distribution in 1971, Jerry Clower from YAzoo City, Mississippi Talkinâ?? retailed more than a million dollars over ten months and stayed in the Top 20 on the country charts for 30 weeks.
And the rest is History!
Jerry on August 24, 1998 died of cardiorespiratory failure, at 71 after a medical procedure that he had undergone. His wife Homerline whome he affectionately refered to as Mama in many of his stories died January 18, 2018 at 91. His oldest boy Ray died on Nov. 27, 2011. The people of Liberty, Mississippi Jerry's hometown mourned his passing for months. They loved him just that much. They were not the only ones.
Other Comments:
Jerry's Brother Sonny, (William E. Clower) that he spoke of in many of his stories also went into the NAVY and retired as a LCDR.
