A Profile of Hard Work And Genius
by Jeff Battle
Meet Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon.
That signature slanted smile, a gift of childhood polio, Clyde to his family and close friends, relaxes at his kitchen table in the humble ranch house of the Cat B Ranch on the Trinity River outside of Dayton, Texas.
He received the nickname “Cat” from friends and acquaintances some years back after he was given a pair of male African Lion kittens to raise. The owner of the kittens was being evicted from his property and the kittens needed a home. Soft-hearted to the very
core of his being, Clyde took in the kittens and became their human parent until they reached maturity. The cats now enjoy cushy quarters in a big-city zoo and “Cat” has become his brand. Now known globally as Cat Brandon (you can Google him), he is a respected and sought after safety, rescue and training consultant to industry. Turning 73 in July of last year, the chocolate brown curls yielding to silver-gray, Cat greets each day with the enthusiasm of a kid starting flying lessons. Whether teaching some safety course, supervising a standby rescue team at a chemical plant or just performing ranch chores, Clyde greets every challenge head-on. Clyde’s personal story actually begins with his grandfather on his father’s side. His grandparents had located in Pelly, Texas, part of present-day Baytown, drawn to the promise of full-time employment in a new oil field that had been discovered. A company named Humble Oil & Refining Company or, just "Humble Company", was building a refinery along the San Jacinto River at Baytown to process the crude oil coming out of the ground. News of the discovery of “Black Gold” as it was called, rang out through the country like the gold rushes of the previous century drawing people from all over looking for employment. At the time, Clyde’s father lived in Cleveland. He rode his horse down to Goose Creek to see what all the fuss was about. The Company was looking for people who understood the distillation process and since Clyde’s father had been a moonshiner among other things, the Company recruited him to work in the new refinery. Clyde’s mother was a Cherokee Indian and walked from the reservation in northeast Texas to Goose Creek. There, she met Clyde’s father and they were married and started their family. Clyde was born #3 of 4 children in 1945. Like many who were born in the Tri-Cities area as it was known at the time, Clyde became a third generation employee at Humble. Clyde’s daddy was a self-taught fiddle player and played professionally with traveling bands in the 30’s and 40’s including Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. That natural talent was passed to Clyde who had learned to play guitar and fiddle before becoming a band student in sixth grade then, talked into playing saxophone by the band director at Cedar Bayou Junior High School. Even though Clyde’s father was employed by Humble Company, money was tight. Having lived through the Great Depression with his parents, Clyde’s daddy learned self-sufficiency and to never come to depend upon others for the family’s sustenance. The family moved from Pelly out to the Cedar Bayou area in the 50’s. Besides having a big garden and raising a few livestock, the children were taught to hunt and fish which they did regularly from Trinity Bay up into the Cove community of Liberty County, to add food for the table. Clyde’s mother was an excellent cook making tasty meals for her family with anything that had caloric or nutritional value. When I knew Clyde in high school, he always wore that signature smile of his and seemed to be a happy kid and excellent musician. But, Clyde says that was a very painful time for him. Growing up without indoor plumbing or shoes to wear, Clyde didn’t play with other kids. When he wasn’t in school, he was fishing or hunting for food or doing chores around the home. He said he he first wore shoes when he entered seventh grade at Cedar Bayou Junior High. As he began to associate with other kids, he began to realize how different his
world was from that of his peers. Fearing teasing and ridicule for being poor, he was very quiet so as not to call attention to himself. After high school graduation, Clyde did what many in Baytown did, he went to work for Humble, in the refinery as an electrician’s apprentice. Like many young men of Clyde’s generation, his new career was soon interrupted by being drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Clyde received orders to Germany and while waiting for a unit assignment, he saw a posted notice that the the U.S. Army Band-Europe was auditioning musicians. By the time he graduated high school, Clyde was a talented musician and performer. Clyde auditioned and was instantly accepted. He enjoyed his tour in Europe, playing all kinds of music in many many different venues all over the continent. At the end of his tour of duty, he was invited to audition for The President’s Own, the U.S. Army Band of Washington, D.C. The catch was, he must re-enlist for another 3 year tour. While humbled and honored by the invitation to audition for the President’s band, Clyde decided to decline and return to Baytown and Humble, now Exxon.
Working in the Plant by day but still musically “hot”, Clyde moonlighted by playing in bands around the area and soon became the sax player for Mickey Gilley’s band playing at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena 7 nights a week. The Gilley’s gig continued for 9 years straight. Clyde has never put down his horn for good, playing professionally and personal enjoyment all over the greater Houston-Galveston area. Ironically, Clyde has been a repeat guest performer with the band named Asleep At The Wheel, playing bigband western swing in the style of Bob Wills, the band Clyde’s daddy once played in. Back at Exxon, his supervisors assigned him to a fire-fighting team. Later they sent him to paramedic school and he became a certified Texas Paramedic. Working in the plant, his father’s words constantly rang in his ears “Take care of yourself, boy. Work safe ‘cause nobody else is gonna look out for your safety like you are. You have to take care of yourself.” As Clyde’s career progressed, he witnessed accidents and deaths that, in his opinion, could have been prevented with better policies, training and attitudes towards safety in the Plant. The most memorable one being a climbing accident where an electrician working on a pole above power lines, fell through them. The 13,480 volts burned the man’s body in half as he fell through them. Later, fate struck one morning during a dull safety meeting in his workgroup. Seasoned now by the admonitions of his father, training in the Army and a new and healthy respect for workplace hazards, Clyde stood up in a boring and poorly conducted safety meeting. Seizing control from the leader, he began to conduct the meeting himself with humor and storytelling, something he was very good at doing. The showmanship in him came out and no one slept through the meeting. News of the unusual safety meeting traveled through the Plant. Unit managers took notice and began requesting that Clyde conduct the next safety meeting on their unit. That captured the attention of administration and he began being called to meetings with staff about what he observed in the Plant and how they might do a better job of preventing accidents and deaths on the job. Clyde was instrumental in organizing the first rescue squad, patterned after the fire fighting and medical first responder teams. Many of his safety recommendations were implemented in the Baytown Refinery and news of them spread to other industries up and down the Houston Ship Channel. Clyde began receiving requests from other companies to consult with them on their plant safety programs. By now, he could see where all this was going. At age 44, he negotiated an early retirement from Exxon. Fully retired, he immediately began his safety career full-time as a safety consultant and contractor. Working with all the industries along the ship channel, Clyde was instrumental in forming the Houston Safety Council, a mutual aid association of channel industries that train and qualify workers for work in the member plants. By now, sister plants all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida were beginning to get on board with similar safety programs with Clyde, a sought after resource. On the evening of April 20th, 2010, the Transocean deepwater drilling rig Deepwater Horizon leased to British Petroleum exploded and caught fire 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The largest accidental marine oil spill and largest environmental disaster in U.S. history had officials scrambling to deal with the aftermath. At the time, Clyde was conducting safety training in Lyondell Petroleum’s Pasadena refinery when his phone rang. Shortly,
a Coast Guard helicopter landed at the plant, collected Clyde and flew him to Mississippi. Clyde was tasked by the Coast Guard to provide training and certification to over 3,000 workers in hazardous materials handling, preparing them to begin cleaning shoreline. With a cadre of 15 of his best HazMat employee-trainers, Clyde trained all those people in just 4 days. During the conduct of this training in an indoor sports stadium wearing his customary red jumpsuit, a CNN news crew happened upon Clyde’s mass training event, the largest ever in U.S. industrial history. With this international news segment airing over and over, Clyde was catapulted into global notoriety in industrial safety, garnering subsequent work on the continents of Africa, India, Central America and Asia.
Projecting his booming voice with the force and fervor of an evangelical preacher at a revival, he delivers the gospel of safety and the preservation of life. He gets the students attention by first starting with their homes, children and spouses. Weaving
humor into the subject he gets them laughing and relaxed before he hits them with stories of preventable deadly home accidents that can happen to any of us in the blink of an eye, sometimes with student laughter turning to tears of sorrow, regret or guilt for not having seen that one coming. Using the tactics of storytelling, his spellbound audience receives his message like they’ve never before experienced in a company safety meeting or training. A few more turns around the home before moving on to the work environment and habits on their jobs. Never using notes: he doesn’t need to, like his music, its all comes from memory and experience. He pounds away again with showmanship, humor and stories of examples before moving out into the public environment. The goal is to have them looking at safety in a totally new way that transcends place and time, like their lives depend on it. Because, you know what? It does! Clyde’s grandfather and father died before having the opportunity of living a full life, partly because of the hazards to which they were exposed in the workplace. Clyde’s motivation for his unusual and very effective safety message in part, is an attempt to see to it that they didn’t die in vain: that we honor the sacrifices of the dead and disabled by learning from their experiences and not repeating them. For Clyde, safety is personal. This is Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon. I’m honored to know him. I’m fortunate to call him my friend. In Memoriam July 14, 1945 - May 4, 2019.
OBITUARY
Arthur Clyde Brandon
July 14, 1945 – May 4, 2019
Play Tribute Movie
Arthur Clyde “Cat” Brandon, 73, was born on July 14th 1945 in Goose Creek, Texas to Corrie Brandon and Arthur Hubert Brandon and passed way on May 4th, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, brother James Brandon, and sister Ethel Pearl Brandon. He is survived by sister Irene Stafford and husband Bill, and his children and their spouses: Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon. Grandchildren: Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon. He also is survived by four great grandchildren: Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon. Also surviving: nephews Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon.
Arthur Clyde Brandon was retired from Exxon Mobil chemical plant where he was an Electrician and a member of the Number 13 Firefighting Team. He was also one of the founders of the Houston Area Safety Council and one of the first members of the Safety Team at Exxon. Upon retirement, Arthur Clyde Brandon started his own safety training company, Work Safe Inc. where he helped train and spread his vast safety and emergency care knowledge. He was a veteran of the United States Army, where he was a member of the Army Band and played the saxophone. He was also a Mason like his father, Arthur H. He loved to hunt and fish, and raised several types of animals and livestock. He was a very talented musician and loved to play the saxophone, mandolin, guitar and was a wonderful singer and although his song has ended, his melody plays on…
FAMILY
Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, Parents Deceased
James Brandon, Brother Deceased
Ethel Pearl Brandon, Sister Deceased
Irene Stafford and husband Bill, Sister
Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon, Children and their spouses
Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon, Grandchildren
Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon, Great Grandchildren
Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon, Nephews.PALLBEARERS
Pallbearers
Chad Brandon
Calvin Brandon
Justin Brandon
Toby Wilburn
David "Crockett" Wilburn
Wesley Collier
Honorary Pallbearers
Bobby Humphreys
Jason Caughman
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baytown-tx/arthur-brandon-8275294
by Jeff Battle
Meet Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon.
That signature slanted smile, a gift of childhood polio, Clyde to his family and close friends, relaxes at his kitchen table in the humble ranch house of the Cat B Ranch on the Trinity River outside of Dayton, Texas.
He received the nickname “Cat” from friends and acquaintances some years back after he was given a pair of male African Lion kittens to raise. The owner of the kittens was being evicted from his property and the kittens needed a home. Soft-hearted to the very
core of his being, Clyde took in the kittens and became their human parent until they reached maturity. The cats now enjoy cushy quarters in a big-city zoo and “Cat” has become his brand. Now known globally as Cat Brandon (you can Google him), he is a respected and sought after safety, rescue and training consultant to industry. Turning 73 in July of last year, the chocolate brown curls yielding to silver-gray, Cat greets each day with the enthusiasm of a kid starting flying lessons. Whether teaching some safety course, supervising a standby rescue team at a chemical plant or just performing ranch chores, Clyde greets every challenge head-on. Clyde’s personal story actually begins with his grandfather on his father’s side. His grandparents had located in Pelly, Texas, part of present-day Baytown, drawn to the promise of full-time employment in a new oil field that had been discovered. A company named Humble Oil & Refining Company or, just "Humble Company", was building a refinery along the San Jacinto River at Baytown to process the crude oil coming out of the ground. News of the discovery of “Black Gold” as it was called, rang out through the country like the gold rushes of the previous century drawing people from all over looking for employment. At the time, Clyde’s father lived in Cleveland. He rode his horse down to Goose Creek to see what all the fuss was about. The Company was looking for people who understood the distillation process and since Clyde’s father had been a moonshiner among other things, the Company recruited him to work in the new refinery. Clyde’s mother was a Cherokee Indian and walked from the reservation in northeast Texas to Goose Creek. There, she met Clyde’s father and they were married and started their family. Clyde was born #3 of 4 children in 1945. Like many who were born in the Tri-Cities area as it was known at the time, Clyde became a third generation employee at Humble. Clyde’s daddy was a self-taught fiddle player and played professionally with traveling bands in the 30’s and 40’s including Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. That natural talent was passed to Clyde who had learned to play guitar and fiddle before becoming a band student in sixth grade then, talked into playing saxophone by the band director at Cedar Bayou Junior High School. Even though Clyde’s father was employed by Humble Company, money was tight. Having lived through the Great Depression with his parents, Clyde’s daddy learned self-sufficiency and to never come to depend upon others for the family’s sustenance. The family moved from Pelly out to the Cedar Bayou area in the 50’s. Besides having a big garden and raising a few livestock, the children were taught to hunt and fish which they did regularly from Trinity Bay up into the Cove community of Liberty County, to add food for the table. Clyde’s mother was an excellent cook making tasty meals for her family with anything that had caloric or nutritional value. When I knew Clyde in high school, he always wore that signature smile of his and seemed to be a happy kid and excellent musician. But, Clyde says that was a very painful time for him. Growing up without indoor plumbing or shoes to wear, Clyde didn’t play with other kids. When he wasn’t in school, he was fishing or hunting for food or doing chores around the home. He said he he first wore shoes when he entered seventh grade at Cedar Bayou Junior High. As he began to associate with other kids, he began to realize how different his
world was from that of his peers. Fearing teasing and ridicule for being poor, he was very quiet so as not to call attention to himself. After high school graduation, Clyde did what many in Baytown did, he went to work for Humble, in the refinery as an electrician’s apprentice. Like many young men of Clyde’s generation, his new career was soon interrupted by being drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Clyde received orders to Germany and while waiting for a unit assignment, he saw a posted notice that the the U.S. Army Band-Europe was auditioning musicians. By the time he graduated high school, Clyde was a talented musician and performer. Clyde auditioned and was instantly accepted. He enjoyed his tour in Europe, playing all kinds of music in many many different venues all over the continent. At the end of his tour of duty, he was invited to audition for The President’s Own, the U.S. Army Band of Washington, D.C. The catch was, he must re-enlist for another 3 year tour. While humbled and honored by the invitation to audition for the President’s band, Clyde decided to decline and return to Baytown and Humble, now Exxon.
Working in the Plant by day but still musically “hot”, Clyde moonlighted by playing in bands around the area and soon became the sax player for Mickey Gilley’s band playing at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena 7 nights a week. The Gilley’s gig continued for 9 years straight. Clyde has never put down his horn for good, playing professionally and personal enjoyment all over the greater Houston-Galveston area. Ironically, Clyde has been a repeat guest performer with the band named Asleep At The Wheel, playing bigband western swing in the style of Bob Wills, the band Clyde’s daddy once played in. Back at Exxon, his supervisors assigned him to a fire-fighting team. Later they sent him to paramedic school and he became a certified Texas Paramedic. Working in the plant, his father’s words constantly rang in his ears “Take care of yourself, boy. Work safe ‘cause nobody else is gonna look out for your safety like you are. You have to take care of yourself.” As Clyde’s career progressed, he witnessed accidents and deaths that, in his opinion, could have been prevented with better policies, training and attitudes towards safety in the Plant. The most memorable one being a climbing accident where an electrician working on a pole above power lines, fell through them. The 13,480 volts burned the man’s body in half as he fell through them. Later, fate struck one morning during a dull safety meeting in his workgroup. Seasoned now by the admonitions of his father, training in the Army and a new and healthy respect for workplace hazards, Clyde stood up in a boring and poorly conducted safety meeting. Seizing control from the leader, he began to conduct the meeting himself with humor and storytelling, something he was very good at doing. The showmanship in him came out and no one slept through the meeting. News of the unusual safety meeting traveled through the Plant. Unit managers took notice and began requesting that Clyde conduct the next safety meeting on their unit. That captured the attention of administration and he began being called to meetings with staff about what he observed in the Plant and how they might do a better job of preventing accidents and deaths on the job. Clyde was instrumental in organizing the first rescue squad, patterned after the fire fighting and medical first responder teams. Many of his safety recommendations were implemented in the Baytown Refinery and news of them spread to other industries up and down the Houston Ship Channel. Clyde began receiving requests from other companies to consult with them on their plant safety programs. By now, he could see where all this was going. At age 44, he negotiated an early retirement from Exxon. Fully retired, he immediately began his safety career full-time as a safety consultant and contractor. Working with all the industries along the ship channel, Clyde was instrumental in forming the Houston Safety Council, a mutual aid association of channel industries that train and qualify workers for work in the member plants. By now, sister plants all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida were beginning to get on board with similar safety programs with Clyde, a sought after resource. On the evening of April 20th, 2010, the Transocean deepwater drilling rig Deepwater Horizon leased to British Petroleum exploded and caught fire 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The largest accidental marine oil spill and largest environmental disaster in U.S. history had officials scrambling to deal with the aftermath. At the time, Clyde was conducting safety training in Lyondell Petroleum’s Pasadena refinery when his phone rang. Shortly,
a Coast Guard helicopter landed at the plant, collected Clyde and flew him to Mississippi. Clyde was tasked by the Coast Guard to provide training and certification to over 3,000 workers in hazardous materials handling, preparing them to begin cleaning shoreline. With a cadre of 15 of his best HazMat employee-trainers, Clyde trained all those people in just 4 days. During the conduct of this training in an indoor sports stadium wearing his customary red jumpsuit, a CNN news crew happened upon Clyde’s mass training event, the largest ever in U.S. industrial history. With this international news segment airing over and over, Clyde was catapulted into global notoriety in industrial safety, garnering subsequent work on the continents of Africa, India, Central America and Asia.
Projecting his booming voice with the force and fervor of an evangelical preacher at a revival, he delivers the gospel of safety and the preservation of life. He gets the students attention by first starting with their homes, children and spouses. Weaving
humor into the subject he gets them laughing and relaxed before he hits them with stories of preventable deadly home accidents that can happen to any of us in the blink of an eye, sometimes with student laughter turning to tears of sorrow, regret or guilt for not having seen that one coming. Using the tactics of storytelling, his spellbound audience receives his message like they’ve never before experienced in a company safety meeting or training. A few more turns around the home before moving on to the work environment and habits on their jobs. Never using notes: he doesn’t need to, like his music, its all comes from memory and experience. He pounds away again with showmanship, humor and stories of examples before moving out into the public environment. The goal is to have them looking at safety in a totally new way that transcends place and time, like their lives depend on it. Because, you know what? It does! Clyde’s grandfather and father died before having the opportunity of living a full life, partly because of the hazards to which they were exposed in the workplace. Clyde’s motivation for his unusual and very effective safety message in part, is an attempt to see to it that they didn’t die in vain: that we honor the sacrifices of the dead and disabled by learning from their experiences and not repeating them. For Clyde, safety is personal. This is Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon. I’m honored to know him. I’m fortunate to call him my friend. In Memoriam July 14, 1945 - May 4, 2019.
OBITUARY
Arthur Clyde Brandon
July 14, 1945 – May 4, 2019
Play Tribute Movie
Arthur Clyde “Cat” Brandon, 73, was born on July 14th 1945 in Goose Creek, Texas to Corrie Brandon and Arthur Hubert Brandon and passed way on May 4th, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, brother James Brandon, and sister Ethel Pearl Brandon. He is survived by sister Irene Stafford and husband Bill, and his children and their spouses: Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon. Grandchildren: Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon. He also is survived by four great grandchildren: Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon. Also surviving: nephews Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon.
Arthur Clyde Brandon was retired from Exxon Mobil chemical plant where he was an Electrician and a member of the Number 13 Firefighting Team. He was also one of the founders of the Houston Area Safety Council and one of the first members of the Safety Team at Exxon. Upon retirement, Arthur Clyde Brandon started his own safety training company, Work Safe Inc. where he helped train and spread his vast safety and emergency care knowledge. He was a veteran of the United States Army, where he was a member of the Army Band and played the saxophone. He was also a Mason like his father, Arthur H. He loved to hunt and fish, and raised several types of animals and livestock. He was a very talented musician and loved to play the saxophone, mandolin, guitar and was a wonderful singer and although his song has ended, his melody plays on…
FAMILY
Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, Parents Deceased
James Brandon, Brother Deceased
Ethel Pearl Brandon, Sister Deceased
Irene Stafford and husband Bill, Sister
Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon, Children and their spouses
Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon, Grandchildren
Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon, Great Grandchildren
Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon, Nephews.PALLBEARERS
Pallbearers
Chad Brandon
Calvin Brandon
Justin Brandon
Toby Wilburn
David "Crockett" Wilburn
Wesley Collier
Honorary Pallbearers
Bobby Humphreys
Jason Caughman
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baytown-tx/arthur-brandon-8275294
A Profile of Hard Work And Genius
by Jeff Battle
Meet Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon.
That signature slanted smile, a gift of childhood polio, Clyde to his family and close friends, relaxes at his kitchen table in the humble ranch house of the Cat B Ranch on the Trinity River outside of Dayton, Texas.
He received the nickname “Cat” from friends and acquaintances some years back after he was given a pair of male African Lion kittens to raise. The owner of the kittens was being evicted from his property and the kittens needed a home. Soft-hearted to the very
core of his being, Clyde took in the kittens and became their human parent until they reached maturity. The cats now enjoy cushy quarters in a big-city zoo and “Cat” has become his brand. Now known globally as Cat Brandon (you can Google him), he is a respected and sought after safety, rescue and training consultant to industry. Turning 73 in July of last year, the chocolate brown curls yielding to silver-gray, Cat greets each day with the enthusiasm of a kid starting flying lessons. Whether teaching some safety course, supervising a standby rescue team at a chemical plant or just performing ranch chores, Clyde greets every challenge head-on. Clyde’s personal story actually begins with his grandfather on his father’s side. His grandparents had located in Pelly, Texas, part of present-day Baytown, drawn to the promise of full-time employment in a new oil field that had been discovered. A company named Humble Oil & Refining Company or, just "Humble Company", was building a refinery along the San Jacinto River at Baytown to process the crude oil coming out of the ground. News of the discovery of “Black Gold” as it was called, rang out through the country like the gold rushes of the previous century drawing people from all over looking for employment. At the time, Clyde’s father lived in Cleveland. He rode his horse down to Goose Creek to see what all the fuss was about. The Company was looking for people who understood the distillation process and since Clyde’s father had been a moonshiner among other things, the Company recruited him to work in the new refinery. Clyde’s mother was a Cherokee Indian and walked from the reservation in northeast Texas to Goose Creek. There, she met Clyde’s father and they were married and started their family. Clyde was born #3 of 4 children in 1945. Like many who were born in the Tri-Cities area as it was known at the time, Clyde became a third generation employee at Humble. Clyde’s daddy was a self-taught fiddle player and played professionally with traveling bands in the 30’s and 40’s including Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. That natural talent was passed to Clyde who had learned to play guitar and fiddle before becoming a band student in sixth grade then, talked into playing saxophone by the band director at Cedar Bayou Junior High School. Even though Clyde’s father was employed by Humble Company, money was tight. Having lived through the Great Depression with his parents, Clyde’s daddy learned self-sufficiency and to never come to depend upon others for the family’s sustenance. The family moved from Pelly out to the Cedar Bayou area in the 50’s. Besides having a big garden and raising a few livestock, the children were taught to hunt and fish which they did regularly from Trinity Bay up into the Cove community of Liberty County, to add food for the table. Clyde’s mother was an excellent cook making tasty meals for her family with anything that had caloric or nutritional value. When I knew Clyde in high school, he always wore that signature smile of his and seemed to be a happy kid and excellent musician. But, Clyde says that was a very painful time for him. Growing up without indoor plumbing or shoes to wear, Clyde didn’t play with other kids. When he wasn’t in school, he was fishing or hunting for food or doing chores around the home. He said he he first wore shoes when he entered seventh grade at Cedar Bayou Junior High. As he began to associate with other kids, he began to realize how different his
world was from that of his peers. Fearing teasing and ridicule for being poor, he was very quiet so as not to call attention to himself. After high school graduation, Clyde did what many in Baytown did, he went to work for Humble, in the refinery as an electrician’s apprentice. Like many young men of Clyde’s generation, his new career was soon interrupted by being drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Clyde received orders to Germany and while waiting for a unit assignment, he saw a posted notice that the the U.S. Army Band-Europe was auditioning musicians. By the time he graduated high school, Clyde was a talented musician and performer. Clyde auditioned and was instantly accepted. He enjoyed his tour in Europe, playing all kinds of music in many many different venues all over the continent. At the end of his tour of duty, he was invited to audition for The President’s Own, the U.S. Army Band of Washington, D.C. The catch was, he must re-enlist for another 3 year tour. While humbled and honored by the invitation to audition for the President’s band, Clyde decided to decline and return to Baytown and Humble, now Exxon.
Working in the Plant by day but still musically “hot”, Clyde moonlighted by playing in bands around the area and soon became the sax player for Mickey Gilley’s band playing at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena 7 nights a week. The Gilley’s gig continued for 9 years straight. Clyde has never put down his horn for good, playing professionally and personal enjoyment all over the greater Houston-Galveston area. Ironically, Clyde has been a repeat guest performer with the band named Asleep At The Wheel, playing bigband western swing in the style of Bob Wills, the band Clyde’s daddy once played in. Back at Exxon, his supervisors assigned him to a fire-fighting team. Later they sent him to paramedic school and he became a certified Texas Paramedic. Working in the plant, his father’s words constantly rang in his ears “Take care of yourself, boy. Work safe ‘cause nobody else is gonna look out for your safety like you are. You have to take care of yourself.” As Clyde’s career progressed, he witnessed accidents and deaths that, in his opinion, could have been prevented with better policies, training and attitudes towards safety in the Plant. The most memorable one being a climbing accident where an electrician working on a pole above power lines, fell through them. The 13,480 volts burned the man’s body in half as he fell through them. Later, fate struck one morning during a dull safety meeting in his workgroup. Seasoned now by the admonitions of his father, training in the Army and a new and healthy respect for workplace hazards, Clyde stood up in a boring and poorly conducted safety meeting. Seizing control from the leader, he began to conduct the meeting himself with humor and storytelling, something he was very good at doing. The showmanship in him came out and no one slept through the meeting. News of the unusual safety meeting traveled through the Plant. Unit managers took notice and began requesting that Clyde conduct the next safety meeting on their unit. That captured the attention of administration and he began being called to meetings with staff about what he observed in the Plant and how they might do a better job of preventing accidents and deaths on the job. Clyde was instrumental in organizing the first rescue squad, patterned after the fire fighting and medical first responder teams. Many of his safety recommendations were implemented in the Baytown Refinery and news of them spread to other industries up and down the Houston Ship Channel. Clyde began receiving requests from other companies to consult with them on their plant safety programs. By now, he could see where all this was going. At age 44, he negotiated an early retirement from Exxon. Fully retired, he immediately began his safety career full-time as a safety consultant and contractor. Working with all the industries along the ship channel, Clyde was instrumental in forming the Houston Safety Council, a mutual aid association of channel industries that train and qualify workers for work in the member plants. By now, sister plants all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida were beginning to get on board with similar safety programs with Clyde, a sought after resource. On the evening of April 20th, 2010, the Transocean deepwater drilling rig Deepwater Horizon leased to British Petroleum exploded and caught fire 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The largest accidental marine oil spill and largest environmental disaster in U.S. history had officials scrambling to deal with the aftermath. At the time, Clyde was conducting safety training in Lyondell Petroleum’s Pasadena refinery when his phone rang. Shortly,
a Coast Guard helicopter landed at the plant, collected Clyde and flew him to Mississippi. Clyde was tasked by the Coast Guard to provide training and certification to over 3,000 workers in hazardous materials handling, preparing them to begin cleaning shoreline. With a cadre of 15 of his best HazMat employee-trainers, Clyde trained all those people in just 4 days. During the conduct of this training in an indoor sports stadium wearing his customary red jumpsuit, a CNN news crew happened upon Clyde’s mass training event, the largest ever in U.S. industrial history. With this international news segment airing over and over, Clyde was catapulted into global notoriety in industrial safety, garnering subsequent work on the continents of Africa, India, Central America and Asia.
Projecting his booming voice with the force and fervor of an evangelical preacher at a revival, he delivers the gospel of safety and the preservation of life. He gets the students attention by first starting with their homes, children and spouses. Weaving
humor into the subject he gets them laughing and relaxed before he hits them with stories of preventable deadly home accidents that can happen to any of us in the blink of an eye, sometimes with student laughter turning to tears of sorrow, regret or guilt for not having seen that one coming. Using the tactics of storytelling, his spellbound audience receives his message like they’ve never before experienced in a company safety meeting or training. A few more turns around the home before moving on to the work environment and habits on their jobs. Never using notes: he doesn’t need to, like his music, its all comes from memory and experience. He pounds away again with showmanship, humor and stories of examples before moving out into the public environment. The goal is to have them looking at safety in a totally new way that transcends place and time, like their lives depend on it. Because, you know what? It does! Clyde’s grandfather and father died before having the opportunity of living a full life, partly because of the hazards to which they were exposed in the workplace. Clyde’s motivation for his unusual and very effective safety message in part, is an attempt to see to it that they didn’t die in vain: that we honor the sacrifices of the dead and disabled by learning from their experiences and not repeating them. For Clyde, safety is personal. This is Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon. I’m honored to know him. I’m fortunate to call him my friend. In Memoriam July 14, 1945 - May 4, 2019.
OBITUARY
Arthur Clyde Brandon
July 14, 1945 – May 4, 2019
Play Tribute Movie
Arthur Clyde “Cat” Brandon, 73, was born on July 14th 1945 in Goose Creek, Texas to Corrie Brandon and Arthur Hubert Brandon and passed way on May 4th, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, brother James Brandon, and sister Ethel Pearl Brandon. He is survived by sister Irene Stafford and husband Bill, and his children and their spouses: Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon. Grandchildren: Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon. He also is survived by four great grandchildren: Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon. Also surviving: nephews Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon.
Arthur Clyde Brandon was retired from Exxon Mobil chemical plant where he was an Electrician and a member of the Number 13 Firefighting Team. He was also one of the founders of the Houston Area Safety Council and one of the first members of the Safety Team at Exxon. Upon retirement, Arthur Clyde Brandon started his own safety training company, Work Safe Inc. where he helped train and spread his vast safety and emergency care knowledge. He was a veteran of the United States Army, where he was a member of the Army Band and played the saxophone. He was also a Mason like his father, Arthur H. He loved to hunt and fish, and raised several types of animals and livestock. He was a very talented musician and loved to play the saxophone, mandolin, guitar and was a wonderful singer and although his song has ended, his melody plays on…
FAMILY
Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, Parents Deceased
James Brandon, Brother Deceased
Ethel Pearl Brandon, Sister Deceased
Irene Stafford and husband Bill, Sister
Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon, Children and their spouses
Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon, Grandchildren
Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon, Great Grandchildren
Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon, Nephews.PALLBEARERS
Pallbearers
Chad Brandon
Calvin Brandon
Justin Brandon
Toby Wilburn
David "Crockett" Wilburn
Wesley Collier
Honorary Pallbearers
Bobby Humphreys
Jason Caughman
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baytown-tx/arthur-brandon-8275294
by Jeff Battle
Meet Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon.
That signature slanted smile, a gift of childhood polio, Clyde to his family and close friends, relaxes at his kitchen table in the humble ranch house of the Cat B Ranch on the Trinity River outside of Dayton, Texas.
He received the nickname “Cat” from friends and acquaintances some years back after he was given a pair of male African Lion kittens to raise. The owner of the kittens was being evicted from his property and the kittens needed a home. Soft-hearted to the very
core of his being, Clyde took in the kittens and became their human parent until they reached maturity. The cats now enjoy cushy quarters in a big-city zoo and “Cat” has become his brand. Now known globally as Cat Brandon (you can Google him), he is a respected and sought after safety, rescue and training consultant to industry. Turning 73 in July of last year, the chocolate brown curls yielding to silver-gray, Cat greets each day with the enthusiasm of a kid starting flying lessons. Whether teaching some safety course, supervising a standby rescue team at a chemical plant or just performing ranch chores, Clyde greets every challenge head-on. Clyde’s personal story actually begins with his grandfather on his father’s side. His grandparents had located in Pelly, Texas, part of present-day Baytown, drawn to the promise of full-time employment in a new oil field that had been discovered. A company named Humble Oil & Refining Company or, just "Humble Company", was building a refinery along the San Jacinto River at Baytown to process the crude oil coming out of the ground. News of the discovery of “Black Gold” as it was called, rang out through the country like the gold rushes of the previous century drawing people from all over looking for employment. At the time, Clyde’s father lived in Cleveland. He rode his horse down to Goose Creek to see what all the fuss was about. The Company was looking for people who understood the distillation process and since Clyde’s father had been a moonshiner among other things, the Company recruited him to work in the new refinery. Clyde’s mother was a Cherokee Indian and walked from the reservation in northeast Texas to Goose Creek. There, she met Clyde’s father and they were married and started their family. Clyde was born #3 of 4 children in 1945. Like many who were born in the Tri-Cities area as it was known at the time, Clyde became a third generation employee at Humble. Clyde’s daddy was a self-taught fiddle player and played professionally with traveling bands in the 30’s and 40’s including Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. That natural talent was passed to Clyde who had learned to play guitar and fiddle before becoming a band student in sixth grade then, talked into playing saxophone by the band director at Cedar Bayou Junior High School. Even though Clyde’s father was employed by Humble Company, money was tight. Having lived through the Great Depression with his parents, Clyde’s daddy learned self-sufficiency and to never come to depend upon others for the family’s sustenance. The family moved from Pelly out to the Cedar Bayou area in the 50’s. Besides having a big garden and raising a few livestock, the children were taught to hunt and fish which they did regularly from Trinity Bay up into the Cove community of Liberty County, to add food for the table. Clyde’s mother was an excellent cook making tasty meals for her family with anything that had caloric or nutritional value. When I knew Clyde in high school, he always wore that signature smile of his and seemed to be a happy kid and excellent musician. But, Clyde says that was a very painful time for him. Growing up without indoor plumbing or shoes to wear, Clyde didn’t play with other kids. When he wasn’t in school, he was fishing or hunting for food or doing chores around the home. He said he he first wore shoes when he entered seventh grade at Cedar Bayou Junior High. As he began to associate with other kids, he began to realize how different his
world was from that of his peers. Fearing teasing and ridicule for being poor, he was very quiet so as not to call attention to himself. After high school graduation, Clyde did what many in Baytown did, he went to work for Humble, in the refinery as an electrician’s apprentice. Like many young men of Clyde’s generation, his new career was soon interrupted by being drafted to serve in the U. S. Army. Clyde received orders to Germany and while waiting for a unit assignment, he saw a posted notice that the the U.S. Army Band-Europe was auditioning musicians. By the time he graduated high school, Clyde was a talented musician and performer. Clyde auditioned and was instantly accepted. He enjoyed his tour in Europe, playing all kinds of music in many many different venues all over the continent. At the end of his tour of duty, he was invited to audition for The President’s Own, the U.S. Army Band of Washington, D.C. The catch was, he must re-enlist for another 3 year tour. While humbled and honored by the invitation to audition for the President’s band, Clyde decided to decline and return to Baytown and Humble, now Exxon.
Working in the Plant by day but still musically “hot”, Clyde moonlighted by playing in bands around the area and soon became the sax player for Mickey Gilley’s band playing at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena 7 nights a week. The Gilley’s gig continued for 9 years straight. Clyde has never put down his horn for good, playing professionally and personal enjoyment all over the greater Houston-Galveston area. Ironically, Clyde has been a repeat guest performer with the band named Asleep At The Wheel, playing bigband western swing in the style of Bob Wills, the band Clyde’s daddy once played in. Back at Exxon, his supervisors assigned him to a fire-fighting team. Later they sent him to paramedic school and he became a certified Texas Paramedic. Working in the plant, his father’s words constantly rang in his ears “Take care of yourself, boy. Work safe ‘cause nobody else is gonna look out for your safety like you are. You have to take care of yourself.” As Clyde’s career progressed, he witnessed accidents and deaths that, in his opinion, could have been prevented with better policies, training and attitudes towards safety in the Plant. The most memorable one being a climbing accident where an electrician working on a pole above power lines, fell through them. The 13,480 volts burned the man’s body in half as he fell through them. Later, fate struck one morning during a dull safety meeting in his workgroup. Seasoned now by the admonitions of his father, training in the Army and a new and healthy respect for workplace hazards, Clyde stood up in a boring and poorly conducted safety meeting. Seizing control from the leader, he began to conduct the meeting himself with humor and storytelling, something he was very good at doing. The showmanship in him came out and no one slept through the meeting. News of the unusual safety meeting traveled through the Plant. Unit managers took notice and began requesting that Clyde conduct the next safety meeting on their unit. That captured the attention of administration and he began being called to meetings with staff about what he observed in the Plant and how they might do a better job of preventing accidents and deaths on the job. Clyde was instrumental in organizing the first rescue squad, patterned after the fire fighting and medical first responder teams. Many of his safety recommendations were implemented in the Baytown Refinery and news of them spread to other industries up and down the Houston Ship Channel. Clyde began receiving requests from other companies to consult with them on their plant safety programs. By now, he could see where all this was going. At age 44, he negotiated an early retirement from Exxon. Fully retired, he immediately began his safety career full-time as a safety consultant and contractor. Working with all the industries along the ship channel, Clyde was instrumental in forming the Houston Safety Council, a mutual aid association of channel industries that train and qualify workers for work in the member plants. By now, sister plants all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida were beginning to get on board with similar safety programs with Clyde, a sought after resource. On the evening of April 20th, 2010, the Transocean deepwater drilling rig Deepwater Horizon leased to British Petroleum exploded and caught fire 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The largest accidental marine oil spill and largest environmental disaster in U.S. history had officials scrambling to deal with the aftermath. At the time, Clyde was conducting safety training in Lyondell Petroleum’s Pasadena refinery when his phone rang. Shortly,
a Coast Guard helicopter landed at the plant, collected Clyde and flew him to Mississippi. Clyde was tasked by the Coast Guard to provide training and certification to over 3,000 workers in hazardous materials handling, preparing them to begin cleaning shoreline. With a cadre of 15 of his best HazMat employee-trainers, Clyde trained all those people in just 4 days. During the conduct of this training in an indoor sports stadium wearing his customary red jumpsuit, a CNN news crew happened upon Clyde’s mass training event, the largest ever in U.S. industrial history. With this international news segment airing over and over, Clyde was catapulted into global notoriety in industrial safety, garnering subsequent work on the continents of Africa, India, Central America and Asia.
Projecting his booming voice with the force and fervor of an evangelical preacher at a revival, he delivers the gospel of safety and the preservation of life. He gets the students attention by first starting with their homes, children and spouses. Weaving
humor into the subject he gets them laughing and relaxed before he hits them with stories of preventable deadly home accidents that can happen to any of us in the blink of an eye, sometimes with student laughter turning to tears of sorrow, regret or guilt for not having seen that one coming. Using the tactics of storytelling, his spellbound audience receives his message like they’ve never before experienced in a company safety meeting or training. A few more turns around the home before moving on to the work environment and habits on their jobs. Never using notes: he doesn’t need to, like his music, its all comes from memory and experience. He pounds away again with showmanship, humor and stories of examples before moving out into the public environment. The goal is to have them looking at safety in a totally new way that transcends place and time, like their lives depend on it. Because, you know what? It does! Clyde’s grandfather and father died before having the opportunity of living a full life, partly because of the hazards to which they were exposed in the workplace. Clyde’s motivation for his unusual and very effective safety message in part, is an attempt to see to it that they didn’t die in vain: that we honor the sacrifices of the dead and disabled by learning from their experiences and not repeating them. For Clyde, safety is personal. This is Arthur Clyde (Cat) Brandon. I’m honored to know him. I’m fortunate to call him my friend. In Memoriam July 14, 1945 - May 4, 2019.
OBITUARY
Arthur Clyde Brandon
July 14, 1945 – May 4, 2019
Play Tribute Movie
Arthur Clyde “Cat” Brandon, 73, was born on July 14th 1945 in Goose Creek, Texas to Corrie Brandon and Arthur Hubert Brandon and passed way on May 4th, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, brother James Brandon, and sister Ethel Pearl Brandon. He is survived by sister Irene Stafford and husband Bill, and his children and their spouses: Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon. Grandchildren: Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon. He also is survived by four great grandchildren: Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon. Also surviving: nephews Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon.
Arthur Clyde Brandon was retired from Exxon Mobil chemical plant where he was an Electrician and a member of the Number 13 Firefighting Team. He was also one of the founders of the Houston Area Safety Council and one of the first members of the Safety Team at Exxon. Upon retirement, Arthur Clyde Brandon started his own safety training company, Work Safe Inc. where he helped train and spread his vast safety and emergency care knowledge. He was a veteran of the United States Army, where he was a member of the Army Band and played the saxophone. He was also a Mason like his father, Arthur H. He loved to hunt and fish, and raised several types of animals and livestock. He was a very talented musician and loved to play the saxophone, mandolin, guitar and was a wonderful singer and although his song has ended, his melody plays on…
FAMILY
Corrie Brandon and Arthur H. Brandon, Parents Deceased
James Brandon, Brother Deceased
Ethel Pearl Brandon, Sister Deceased
Irene Stafford and husband Bill, Sister
Walter Calvin and Stacey Brandon, and Chad and Courtney Brandon, Children and their spouses
Justin and wife Krysten Brandon, Kayla Brandon Lambright, Hannah Brandon, Jack Brandon and Molly Brandon, Grandchildren
Carson Brandon, Easton Brandon, Brixton Brandon, and Emersyn Brandon, Great Grandchildren
Larry Wilburn and wife Denise, Toby Wilburn, David Wilburn, Kevin Brandon, Nephews.PALLBEARERS
Pallbearers
Chad Brandon
Calvin Brandon
Justin Brandon
Toby Wilburn
David "Crockett" Wilburn
Wesley Collier
Honorary Pallbearers
Bobby Humphreys
Jason Caughman
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/baytown-tx/arthur-brandon-8275294
