Qlkhration of '<rrlf 1fiif of 
~illiam ~kxanor Qlkmni 
1912-2001 
Sunday, April 1, 2001 -1:00 P.M.- 
~lfit ~ock ~aptizt Qllfurclf 
Durham, North Carolina The Reverend Dr. Reginald Van Stephens 
Senior Minister 
 
 ~illiam ~lexanbcr Ollemcnt, OIIfi-~ 
Business Executive, C01n1nunity Leader and Patriarch 
William Alexander Clement, 88, died late Saturday afternoon, March 24, of congestive heart failure in Atlanta. Bill was a loving husband, a devoted father, patriarch, business executive, and community leader. Before he and his late wife, Josephine Dobbs Clement, a former Durham County Commissioner, left Durham in 1996, they had built a legacy as a couple dedicated to public service. Born May 6, 1912 in Charleston, S.C., Bill Clement was the youngest of three children from the union of Arthur John Howard Clement, Sr. and Sadie Kathleen Jones Clement. 
Beginning as a part-time insurance agent for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1927, Bill worked for his father who was the District Manager in Charleston. After graduating from Talladega College in Alabama in 1934, he started as a full-time insurance agent in the company's Memphis district. Having returned to Charleston as a Staff Manager the following year, he married the former Frances Lawson of Sumter, SC. After Frances' death from breast cancer in 1940, Bill became a widower with a 4 year old daughter, Alexine. A year later, he married the former Josephine Dobbs and the family relocated to Atlanta. Coming into the orbit of his father-in law, the late John Wesley Dobbs, former Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons in Georgia, Bill became involved in masonry. Years later, he wou ld become the Grand Master in North Carolina from 1980 to 1987. 
During his tenure as Regional Manager, Bill sold the company's first group insurance policy to Gold Shield Laundries in Atlanta. In 1946, Clement was transferred to the Home Office in Durham. He completed his studies in 1953 for the professional designation of Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) from the American College of Life Underwriters in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Bill became the third insurance agent from the Mutual to receive such a designation, and the first agent based in the south . In 1961, he was named Agency Director of North Carolina Mutual. During the 60's , Bill led "Operation Big Push", that successfully targeted Fortune 100 companies to cede a portion of their group life insurance to NCM. This accomplishment pushed the Mutual over the billion dollar mark of life insurance in force. He retired in 1978 as Executive Vice President for Field Operations,remaining on the Board of Directors until 1985. 
In 1949, after attending a Life Insurance Management Research Association (LIMRA) meeting , Bill pushed for a separate training program for black insurance agents. He became the Chairman of the Board of LIMRA in 1976. Bill was equally active in the National Insurance Association , serving as President of this black 
trade group. His record of public service was equally distinguished. Throughout his career, 
he blazed a trail of breaking down barriers of racial segregation. In 1949, as Chairman of the Education Committee of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs , Bill Clement led a group of parents who sued the Durham School Board on the basis of unequal facilities for black students. During the fifties, he continued to work with the Committee to promote integration of the Durham City schools. 
Bill was as a trustee of White Rock Baptist Church for more than 40 years, and was chairman of the church committee that sponsored Troop 55. In 1962, he and other scout leaders petitioned the Occoneechee Council of the Boy Scouts of America to end their segregated scout districts. During the transition, Bill was asked to join the executive board of the council and later served as Vice President. The Occoneechee Council awarded him the Silver Beaver for 13 years of service to scouting. All three of Bill's sons became eagle scouts. 
 
 In 1970, Bill was elected as the first black President of the United Way. Bill and Josephine were recognized by the United Way in 1999 with the creation of a new giving category named in their honor. 
Bill served on the North Carolina Central University Board of Trustees for nine years, beginning in 1972. His five years as Chairman saw fund-raising efforts to build new facilities , hire new staff, upgrade the nursing and library science programs, and establish the re-accreditation of the law school. 
During his 11 year term on the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority from 1979 to 1991 , the facility was sign ificantly expanded with the addition of 2 new terminals and another runway. In his two-year tenure as Chairman , Bill led the talks with 
American Airlines for placing a hub at RDU . Other honors awarded Bill include the NAACP Durham Chapter Freedom Fighters 
Award in 1980 and Durham Chamber of Commerce Civic Honor Award in 1986, both of wh ich he recei ved jointly with his wife . These awards , based on their respective track records , earned Bill and Josephine the unofficial title of Durham 's "First Couple of Service" from the Durham Herald-Sun. 
He was a life member of the NAACP, the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity , Sigma Pi Phi (the Boule) fraternity , and the Durham Rotary Club. 
During the last six years of his life , Bill guided the re-development of the Clement homestead in Cleveland, NC into a small , residential subdivision named Clement Crossing. Bill spent his summers in Cleveland as a boy with his grandparents , former slaves, who acquired the farmland in 1874. 
Predeceased on March 23, 1998 by his beloved wife and partner of 56 years, the late Josephine Dobbs Clement, survivors include 6 children: Alexine Clement Jackson and husband , Aaron , M.D., Potomac, MD; William A. Clement, Jr. and wife , Ressie, Atlanta ,GA; Wesley D. Clement, M.D. , Charlotte, NC; Arthur J. Clement and wife, Elizabeth , Atlanta , GA; Kathleen 0 . Clement, Atlanta, GA; and Josephine Clement Smart and husband , Michael , New Rochelle , NY; 14 grandchildren ; 12 great-grandch ildren ; 3 sisters-in-law; and numerous nephews, nieces , and godchildren . 
 
 ror of ~mmhran.c 
PRELUDE ......................................................................... Dr. Paula Harrell Organist 
PROCESSIONAL 
HYMNAL, No. 50 .................. "Abide With Me" ..................... Congregation 
SCRIPTURE READINGS ....... ... The Reverend Elizabeth Mitchell Clement Old Testament, Psaln1 1, Micah 6:6-8 New Testament, Revelations 1:4b-8 
PRAYER ..................................... The Reverend Dr. Ella Pearson Mitchell 
TRIBUTES: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Cornpany Nathan T. Garrett, Chainnan of the Board of Directors Connia H. Watson, Retired Vice President-Agency 
Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina Most Worshipful Grand Master Marvin Chambers 
Raleigh-Durharn Airport Authority F. V. "Pete" Allison, Fonner Board Mernber 
North Carolina Central University Julius S. Chambers, Chancellor 
The Durharn Cornrnunity A. J. Howard Clement, Ill, Nephew Mayor Pro Ternpore, The City of Durharn 
The Farnily Arthur John Clement, Son President, Clernent & Wynn Prograrn Managers 
MUSICAL SELECTION .............. ................................ ..... White Rock Choir 
EULOGY .......................................................... Dr. Reginald Van Stephens 
HYMNAL, No. 252 ................................................................. Congregation "Once To Every Man and Nation" 
BENEDICTION ................................................. Dr. Reginald Van Stephens 
The Clernent Farnily will receive friends and well-wishers in the Fellowship Hall on the Lower Level irnrnediately following the service. 
 
   2Bff.emoriz 
 
 Before his death, William Alexander Clement requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions be sent payable to the William A . and Josephine D. Clement Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation: 
P. 0. Box 12834 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 
to benefit The North Carolina Central University School of Business 
Arangements By 
FISHER FUNERAL PARLOR 
Funeral Service Licensees 3137 Fayetteville Street 
Durham, North Carolina 27707 Since 1963 
MKO Graphics 404-523-1 560