Clayton Farnham

1938 - 2020

FARNHAM, Clayton Henson

Clayton Henson Farnham, age 82, died peacefully on October 17, 2020, after 7 years with Alzheimer's disease. A distinguished attorney, lifelong choral singer, avid reader, witty and articulate speaker, Clayton is remembered for his exuberance, energy, and love of life.

The son of Naomi Shropshire Henson and Richard Bayles Farnham, Clayton was born on August 18, 1938 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and raised in the nearby village of Middlebush. He graduated from the University of the South (Sewanee, TN) in 1961 then served in the United States Navy for three years. In 1967, he graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law. Winning the law school's moot court competition pointed him in the direction of trial work, an inclination that was affirmed by serving two years as law clerk to the distinguished U.S. District Court Judge, the Honorable Newell Edenfield. From 1969-1982, Clayton practiced law as an associate and partner with the firm of Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers. In 1982, he was a founding partner of Drew, Eckl and Farnham, where he practiced until his retirement in 2008. A litigator, he developed expertise in the representation of property and mortgage insurers in matters of fraud, gaining special renown for his work in arson matters. He was active in the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, the International Association of Defense Counsel, and the Property Loss Research Bureau, serving in leadership roles and as a frequent speaker at their national meetings. These contributions earned him the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association's Insurance Law Committee. But his greatest legal achievements came in the courtroom where colleagues describe him as articulate, calm, convincing and always the gentleman. His legal writing was noted as free of verbose flourish or jargon. He served as a mentor and role model for many young lawyers who celebrated his skills but also his professionalism and integrity.

Music was central to Clayton's life from his early years as a boy soprano in an Episcopal church choir (modeled, as he said, "on the English tradition"). In college, he helped form, and did most of the musical arrangements for, an 8-man singing group, "The Tranquillizers." As a choral singer, he hit the jackpot when he moved to Atlanta the same month as the renowned choral director, Robert Shaw. Clayton sang many of the great choral masterworks under Shaw's baton, performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus for 9 years and later participating in 5 of Shaw's renowned Carnegie Hall Workshops. With his typical enthusiasm, Clayton would affirm that "when Shaw was on the podium, Atlanta was the musical center of the universe." At home, he relaxed with classical music admiring especially the genius of J.S. Bach. Neighbors and friends remember him playing Christmas carols at the piano, inviting all ages to join in the singing. A lover and master of the English language, he expressed himself boldly and with wit and humor, whether in pithy letters-to-the-editor or at lunches with his Friday group.

After his retirement, Clayton pursued other life interests – travel, reading history (especially biographies), and researching family genealogy. Highlights included: at age 70, a long-day hike up Half Dome in Yosemite Park with his son, Rich; and, at age 75, attending with his family the world-renowned Christmas Eve Festival of Lessons and Carols in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, England.

Clayton was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. With his typical superlatives, he described his wife Kitty (Katharine Wood Gross) as "the single best thing that ever happened to me." He cherished also his daughter Julia Kernan Farnham Goldstein and her husband, Jonathan, and their children: Katharine Wood, Naomi Shropshire (deceased), Helen Henson and Benno Shropshire; his son Richard Bayles Farnham and his wife, Anna Thomas; and Honey, the fifth of his yellow Labradors. The family holds many memories of great times together in Atlanta, at the family farm in Gordon County GA, at Pawley's Island SC, at Lake Rabun, at the Elkhorn Ranch in Montana, and in Narberth PA. In 2018, after 51 years in Atlanta, Clayton and Kitty moved to Penn Valley PA to live closer to their grandchildren.

Clayton will be buried in Gordon County GA where many of his Henson relatives have lived since the 1850s, including his grandfather and namesake, W. Clayton Henson, the first graduate of the Berry School in Rome GA. Because of COVID, his burial service will be attended only by family. His friends and relatives are invited and encouraged to pause their lives on Sunday, November 1st at 2:00, to join with his family in spirit as they celebrate Clayton's life.

If you wish to make a gift in Clayton's memory, please consider: Respite Care Atlanta, Inc., 2715 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305; The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Suite 4074, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta GA 30309; or Abramson Senior Care Hospice Program, LB 8053, PO Box 95000, Philadelphia, PA 19195.