On Monday, July 25, people from all over Northern Kentucky and beyond poured into the room at the Fort Mitchell City Building to honor and celebrate the lives of Clyde and Mary Middleton.
The couple’s names will appear on the overpass bridge on Dixie Highway over I-75 in Fort Mitchell.
The Middletons are well-known as among the founders of the present-day Republican Party in Kenton County and the region. Many state and county officials were on hand with friends and family to join in the celebration of the Middletons, whom inspired many to get involved in politics, community activism and charity efforts.
The Middletons four children, their spouses and families were on hand, and son John Middleton, Kenton Circuit Court clerk, shared stories and memories of his parents. He was joined by siblings Richard, David and Ann.
Standing on their shoulders
Fort Mitchell Mayor Jude Hehman welcomed guests and introduced speakers. He said he was proud that the Middletons considered Fort Mitchell their home.
“I’m so excited that it is both of them that are represented because I could not think of anyone more deserving for their dedication to the city,” Hehman said. “John said his mom Mary said she loved to travel but it was nice to be home, and she always considered Ft. Mitchell home. The family was here 65 years on Ft. Mitchell Avenue.”
Kentucky State Representative Adam Koenig was one of several officials who spoke about the Middletons’ contributions.
“They broke the mold, blazed the trail so that the rest of us could serve our fellow citizens Northern Kentucky and make it a better place,” Koenig said. “It’s my honor to be involved in this,” he said. “…We stand on the shoulders of people like Clyde and Mary.”
To best understand the impact of the Middletons’ role in Northern Kentucky politics, it is important to note the history of where the state was when they first got involved, said Kentucky Senate Leader Damon Thayer.
“I want to talk a little bit about Clyde and Mary’s role in the Republican Party because there was a time when Northern Kentucky was not dominated by Republicans as it is today,” Thayer said. “When I think about early Republican party politics here I think of some giants. I think of Jim Bunning, my mentor. I think about Dick Roeding who helped me in my early days in the state senate, and I think about Clyde and Mary Middleton.”
Early days
Thayer described the situation in the early 1960s.
“Did you know that Clyde once ran for congress from up here in Kenton County twice,” Thayer said. “Back then you could hold Republican meetings in phone booths…That’s where Republicans used to be, and I think of where we are today. Back in those days it was only eight or nine Republicans in the state senate. Now, it’s completely flipped.”
He and Clyde Middleton would often meet up at the Optimists Club and reminisce about the past and the changes they’d seen. At one point, he said, Jim Bunning and Clyde Middleton were alone the Northern Kentucky caucus of the Republican party, and it took only five votes to become minority leader.
“It’s a much bigger math equation now,” Thayer said. “But I think about those times when Jim and Clyde roamed the halls of our state capital. I wished I’d been around to see it. Two giants making law, doing deals with Democrats who back then ruled with an iron fist, and I look around at all the Republicans here today. I think, Adam, you are right, we stand on the shoulders of people like Clyde and Mary Middleton.”
About the Middletons
Clyde Middleton was the judge/executive for Kenton County for eight years (1990-1998), and was also a state senator, the first Republican senator from the county since 1901. Prior to his time as judge/executive, he served as senator for Kentucky’s 24th district for 19 years. He is credited for building the Republican Party in Northern Kentucky and was chairman of the party in Kentucky when Louie Nunn was governor.
John Middleton outlined his father’s storied career. Clyde Middleton was born in Cleveland in 1928. After a try at studying engineering, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy instead and attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. This service brought him to Honolulu, Hawaii where he met Mary, who was from Wausau, Wisconsin, at a dance. The couple continued their relationship when Clyde was stationed in San Diego, and Mary even visited him when he was sent overseas to Japan. The couple were married in Wausau in 1954.
Clyde Middleton began his working life with Procter & Gamble, landing eventually in Cincinnati. The couple decided to make Northern Kentucky their home and bought a house in Fort Mitchell. Both became lifelong Republicans at the time and often talked about national affairs at work and at home, John Middleton said.
He told a story about how his mother was the first in the family to run for office.
“So it was when Clyde went on a business trip to Louisiana, he arrived back at his hotel room late one night to a message to call home no matter how late the hour,” John Middleton said. “So, this was obviously of great concern with two young children at home at the time. He frantically called fearing the worst. Mary told him everything was okay, but she had decided to file for state representative as a Republican.”
Mary Middleton was the first Northern Kentucky Republican woman to run for office, throwing her hat in the ring for state representative in 1959. She didn’t win that race in a Democrat-dominated field, but she went on to become the first president of the Kenton County Republican Women’s Club, first president of the Booth Hospital Women’s Auxiliary and the first president of the Northern Kentucky Heritage League. She also had a strong commitment to her volunteer work in the Salvation Army and other charity efforts.
Encouraged by his wife’s efforts, Clyde Middleton, who died in 2019, ran in the early 1960s for state senator a few times, finally winning his seat in 1967. He went on to serve in the senate for almost two decades.
“He worked on a number of issues in the General Assembly, most notably childhood education, mental health issues and judiciary issues, the latter of a particular interest as he attended Chase College of Law at night while working as a senator,” said John Middleton.
His father later sponsored a bill to bring Chase College of Law from the YMCA in Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky University and led efforts to defend Chase when downstate efforts threatened to close it down. John Middleton also noted his father’s efforts to protect Fort Wright, Edgewood and other small cities from being annexed by Covington.
After losing his seat, Clyde Middleton turned to run for Kenton County Judge/Executive in 1989. He won and became the first Republican county executive in the county in almost a century. He was proud of his work to build the county’s economic engine, his son said.
Service to others
Both Middletons were involved in community activities, John Middleton said. Clyde Middleton served on the Kenton County Library Committee, which helped in funding of the Kenton County Public Library. Mary Middleton became president of the Salvation Army’s Women’s Auxiliary.
“Mary was active in a number of other charitable organizations, often as a fundraiser, but probably more important in her mind as a ‘fun raiser,’” John Middleton said.
She was recognized for her many years of helping others. She was named both the Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year and the Kentucky Post Woman of the Year. The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra awarded her its first crystal baton.
John Middleton closed his comments with a few stories about his mother. Not long after she died in 2011, he said he attended a Christmas party. As with most people, he looked around for people he knew. As he was making the rounds, he said he thought about how his mother would have approached such an occasion.
“My mother would not look for people she knew,” John Middleton said. “She would be looking for the people she didn’t know. And then she would sit with them, and she would talk with them and probably more important she would listen and while she was listening, she had this rolodex in her mind, thinking ‘what organization am I going to get these folks involved in?’ And she did. Probably everyone in this room can come up with a Mary Middleton story about how she got them involved. And perhaps many of you fell victim of Mary’s observation of where you would have done the most impact for the most people, and aren’t we so lucky for that.”
He closed with another story about how his brother David had taped their mother less than a year before her death.
“At the end he stopped and asked her, ‘At your funeral, your wake, what would you want people to know about you?’ She looked at the camera and said ‘Do good for others.’”
He closed with a reminder of his mother’s words.
“So, as you drive by this sign, remember to do good for others.”