Clarence Heathco

Clarence (Clay) Heathco Clarence was born in Indianapolis on December 16th 1924 to Charlie and Mary Heathco. He was named after his father's best friend, Clarence Kohler who served with Charlie in the trenches during World War I. Clay as he was called had two older brothers, Charles Jr. and Richard, the family lived in the Irvington area on the east side of Indianapolis. Clay contracted polio at age two which severely affected his right leg. When the World War II came about his brother Charles flew bombers in the Pacific and Richard stormed the beaches on D Day. Because of his polio Clay served state side as a civilian employee for the Air Corps where he repaired and ferried training aircraft. He had a life long passion for aviation, he was a certified A&E mechanic and pilot and worked for Roscoe Turner Aviation for several years after the war. He was also a gifted welder and sheet metal fabricator and during the winters built race car bodies and chassis for several Indianapolis 500 teams, in the late 1940's he worked for Cotton Henning's Maserati team with Ted Horn at the wheel. Clay married Martha Jean Apple on June 2nd 1950 and settled down a bit. He took a job with the Allison Division of General Motors as an aircraft mechanic and fabricator in the Allison flight test organization. That job took Clay and Martha across the country. They went to Saint Louis, then back to Indianapolis in 1952 where their daughter Cathleen was born and then on to Edwards Air Force base in Mojave California where their son Craig was born in 1953. They lived by the base in Lancaster California throughout the 1950's. There Clay took an Indy 500 roadster chassis he had built a few years earlier, cut it down the middle to widened it by 18 inches and turned it into the Rattler, one of the most outrageous hot rods in southern California. When Allison phased out it's flight test facilities in the 1960's the Heathco's returned to Indianapolis where Clay continued to work for Allison Gas Turbine as an engine assembly supervisor at Plant 5 in Maywood. He continued to fly as much as he could and owned a number of aircraft over the years. He was active in the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Hendricks County Aviation Association. He was also a charter member of the Chapel Hill Lions Club where he enjoyed serving the community in the Chapel Hill area. Clay's beloved wife Martha was taken by cancer in 1983. Clarence is survived by his two children, Cathy and Craig, four grandchildren, Chad, Luke, Jamie and Ryan and 8 great grandchildren, Carter, Maylin, Hayden, Carrigan, Henry, Harrison, Adron and Lily. Donations to the Lions Club International Foundation Vision fund are appreciated in lieu of flowers.