It is rather ironic that I have such positive memories about my mother and father; yet, I don’t know a great deal about their courtship or marriage. My father, Harry Alexander Clendenin, lived his entire life in Gallia County. As I wrote in my previous chapter, Daddy, at an early age (following high school), needed to “get a job” to help his widowed mother. My father was quite capable of doing many things, whether it was “blue collar” work or managing financial responsibilities. If he had lived in a later decade, he probably would have been an accountant. But he was not encouraged for practical reasons. His birthdate was September 10, 1898–his youth and young adulthood seldom was discussed when I was a child. I know he was extremely handsome so I can only assume he had a social life.
My mother, Varney Faye Rawson, born July 13, 1906 in Outley, Iowa, was eight years younger than Daddy. Her family would move to Rio Grande, Ohio, and she was living with her mother, sister, and grandparents on a farm about ten miles from Gallipolis, Ohio from the time she was a young girl. She was bright, musically gifted, and at age sixteen, she passed her Teacher’s License from Rio Grande College and started to teach in a one room schoolhouse many miles away in 1922. Can you imagine how scared she must have been? She was only five foot in height and her class had all ages from first to eight grades. Many of her students towered over her. It was not long after she began her teaching that the school had a fire that meant she had to go home. One particular student of hers who would in 1948 found a successful restaurant chain was Bob Evans (1918-2007). He was in attendance at her funeral!
How did my Father meet Mother? The answer is “I don’t know!” Didn’t I ever have any curiosity about their early years? The one fact I know is that they were married in Catlettsburg, Kentucky one evening in 1927. I don’t remember any photos of their wedding. I don’t think they had a honeymoon.
I believe they stayed with my father’s mother until they bought the house at 96 Court Street. It was right in the midst of the Great Depression. Many people were out of work. Luckily, my father was employed as a person who collected the toll on the Silver Bridge that spanned the Ohio River. My mother could no longer teach school because it was against the law for married women to teach. Our home was the center of my parents’ marriage. My parents were blessed with a male child early in their marriage but sadly he only lived one day and a half. After suffering the pain of three miscarriages, my sister Barbara was born in 1936, myself in 1939, and Betty in 1944. What a rather lonely life Mother experienced during her twenties! Housekeeping was demanding— no doubt about it. But my father was frequently away, often just taking temporary jobs. Still, the house and visits from her mother seemed to be a source of contentment. She played the piano constantly (follow this link to see Mother with my children at her piano.)
It was during the early years of now a family of five that my parents devoted total attention to raising their girls. They were loving parents. We had very few luxuries but it did not seem to matter. We were loved. Mother and Daddy did all they could to support us and to encourage our talents. We played games, listened to the radio, and had rides in the car. Mother took us to the park and Daddy let us pick nuts in the fall. We always had supper together. My Father and Mother were compatible in many ways but Daddy was always worried about saving money. When Mother finally went back to get her degree in education, she finally could help with the income. She could now teach and she did so until she became 80 years old. That was a blessing!
In the later years of Daddy’s life, he was saddened because he slowed down and felt a lack of purpose. On Monday, August 6, 1962, he died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Mother could not cope well for a long time but finally, she became independent and lived a long life until she was 98. Mother passed away in 2005. So many more stories I could tell about these two courageous people! I will end by saying that they continue to live in my heart!
