Glenn Stubblefield Sr. (1942-2018)

Nov. 23--Glenn Stubblefield, Sr., a Toledo community volunteer who was a retired Jeep electrician and a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War era, died Nov. 16 at the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital. He was 76.

He died of brain cancer after a two-year bout with the disease, his wife of 53 years, Joyce Stubblefield, said.

Mr. Stubblefield retired from the former Jeep plant in 1991 as an industrial electrician after 29 years at the plant.

"He had a real dry sense of humor, but he was always willing to help. If you had a problem -- be it plumbing, carpentering, or electrical -- he was always willing to help. He felt it was his responsibility to help. He was very spiritual," Mrs. Stubblefield said, and a great conversationalist.

For the past 18 years, Mr. Stubblefield and his wife sponsored an annual gathering known as the "Collard Green Festival" at a park that they created on a property they bought across the street from their Belmont Avenue home.

At the festival they used the collard greens in a variety of traditional African-American dishes. About 350 people from throughout the city came annually to the free-admission event, Mrs. Stubblefield said.

"[The festival] was important for him, because it made so many people happy and it gave an opportunity to so many people to get together and reminisce about the fun they had had as young people at communal events in Toledo in the 1950s and 1960s," his wife said.

Said Mr. Stubblefield in a 2004 Blade story about the festival, "This is just for everyone to get out and have a good time. That's all."

He was born May 30, 1942, in Toledo to Paul Brooks and Theresa Kerney-Stubblefield.

As a teenager in the early 1950s, he boxed with Toledo Golden Gloves. He was especially proud of having met during that time with Muhammad Ali -- known at the time as Cassius Clay -- who visited his family home.

In 1961, Mr. Stubblefield graduated from Libbey High and, later that year, was hired as a stock clerk at the former Willys Motor Co. After working as a clerk for about 10 years he went through an electrical apprenticeship at the plant to become an industrial electrician.

He volunteered to serve in the Army in 1963. He went through Army training in Kentucky, and then was stationed at different times in Germany and Alaska as a combat engineer during the Vietnam War era until his honorable discharge in 1966 with the rank of specialist fourth class.

Upon his discharge, he resumed his work at Jeep.

In the late 1990s he researched the names of all the U.S. military personnel from northwest Ohio who were killed in the Vietnam War, then made a memorial board with all the names on it, complete with birth and death dates, branches of the military, and ranks. He took the board to various veteran events throughout Toledo and displayed it until he fell ill a couple of years ago, his wife said.

In his free time, Mr. Stubblefield liked teaching youngsters life skills such as using basic tools and measures, fixing flat tires, setting mouse traps, changing engine oil, and "taking pride in the neighborhood," his wife said, adding that he was a black history buff and a doo-wop music enthusiast.

He also raised and matched "pit bull" terriers. His other hobbies included fishing and traveling.

Mr. Stubblefield was preceded in death by his daughter, Laretta Martin.

Surviving are his wife, Joyce; daughters, Stephanie Stubblefield-Banks and Sharonda Ball; son, Glenn, Jr.; brother, Paul Bruce; sisters, Paula Stubblefield and Mavis Holmes, and nine grandchildren.

Visitation will be at 2 p.m. Friday at C. Brown Funeral Home, 1629 Nebraska Ave, followed by services at 3 p.m. The family suggests tributes to American Cancer Society.

First Published November 23, 2018, 12:00am

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