He was quite simply the best grandfather you could ever have.

This was the heartfelt tribute from the four granddaughters of Captain Fred Clipper after their beloved grandfather passed away last weekend at the age of 104.

Mr Clipper was a popular and well-known community stalwart, but he was also a devoted family man.

The father of four, who came to Bermuda at the beginning of the Second World War with the US Army, was the heartbeat of the Clipper family.

His granddaughter, Tash Pethick, told The Royal Gazette: “My first memories are of him tricking me at the dining room table so he could steal my ice cream.

“He always said that the reason he had lived so long was because he lived in Bermuda. He did all the volunteering work because he said he was giving back to Bermuda because the country had given him so much.

“I remember Christmas days when he would go to the hospital equipment rental and make sure everyone had what they needed. That was the kind of man he was.

“He was simply an incredible grandfather — he was still cutting his own grass well into his hundreds.”

Granddaughter Victoria Cunningham added: “I can still remember delivering Meals on Wheels with him, when he was older than many of the people we were delivering food to. As grandchildren he was always interested to hear our news and know what we were up to. He made everyone feel important.

“He was the focal point of our family along with our granny, and meant so much to all of us.”

Mr Clipper was born in Baltimore and later posted to the Island to protect the country as well as the shipping supply convoys from enemy submarines lurking in the Atlantic.

Within a year of his deployment he married Bermudian Rosemary Champness and went on to start a family and call the Island home.

The couple had four children; Jan, Jill, Ros and Jonathan, and at the time of Mr Clipper’s death he had five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren

Granddaughter Sarah Bosch De Noya said: “My sister, Charlotte, and I had the privilege of growing up with him in Bermuda. He was really the father figure in my life and I called him dad.

“He had a great sense of humour — he had fun in every situation.

“He drove us to school, taught us to fish, taught us to garden — we did everything with him.

“We were very lucky to be able to spend so much time with him in our early years.

“He was the glue that kept us all together. What lies ahead is going to be the hardest chapter without him.”

Granddaughter Charlotte Bosch De Noya added: “He was the one I would go to whenever I was naughty or needed someone.

“He always believed in me, and loved the fact that I went on to work at the airport like him.

“There are people still at the airport now that remember him for his sense of humour and his incredible work ethic. I think we all inherited that from him.

“He always had a smile and joke for everyone.”