William C. Clemmens

William C. Clemmens, 92, of Sandy Springs, retired MARTA Safety Director died September 18, 2010 of cancer related complications at Altus House hospice. Mr. Clemmens was a 1942 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and WWII veteran. He saw action in the Pacific, including the battles of Midway, Guadalcanal and Santa Cruz. He survived the sinking of the USS Hornet and the USS Helena as well as the near sinking of the USS Honolulu. After the war he obtained a second engineering degree from the University of Missouri and worked on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs as an engineer with Minneapolis Honeywell. Later, while with Westinghouse, he worked on the San Francisco BART project and the Sao Palo, Brazil transit project. He moved to Sandy Spring in 1976 and joined MARTA. He retired in 1987. He was preceded in death by his wife Elizabeth, in 2009 and son William in 1997. He is survived by sons Albert, of Tempe' Arizona and Craig, of Apollo, Pennsylvania, by daughter Ann Ferland, of Lexington, Kentucky and by 7 grandchildren. Mr. Clemmens was born May 26, 1918 in Lincoln Nebraska, to Jesse C. and Erma Peery Clemmens. He was a 1935 graduate of East High School in Sioux City, Iowa. He enlisted in the Navy in 1935 and earned "appointment from the fleet" to the Naval Academy in 1938. He married Elizabeth Magdanz October 15, 1944 and resigned his commission in 1947.