January 1955 Was An Exciting Month!

I was 11-years-old in January 1955, so I well remember the excitement that came at the end of the month.   My paternal grandmother, Mabel R. Clark, had hosted a Sunday gathering to celebrate the weddings anniversaries of her two children.  Thelma Maree Clark and John Franklin Hedges were married on January 22, 1928 in Alma, Kansas and my parents, John Leander "Tim" Clark and Lucille Corbin, had been married on January 24, 1942 in Topeka, Kansas.  

I loved going to Grandmother Clark's for big dinners because the food was always out of this world.  Grandmother Clark was the Paula Dean of her time.   She believed that a recipe wasn't a recipe unless it had 12 eggs, a pound of butter and four cups of sugar.   She was a very rich cook and these times when she had the opportunity to host both of her children occasioned pulling out all the stops!!  We gathered at her home, the Maple Hill Central Office, to celebrate on Sunday, January 23, 1955.  I don't remember who was there but the house was full of adults and children.

My mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark was nine-months pregnant and expecting a baby any day.   Mom had gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy and was miserable.   She went for lunch but stayed only a short time.   My brother, Gary Wayne Clark, was born on January 25, 1947 and is 18 months younger than I.   Grandmother had made one of her famous three-layer chocolate cakes for Gary, and it had nine candles.

At that time, we lived only a block away, so it was easy for Gary and I to stay and play with our Hedges cousins.   I don't remember there being any snow on the ground but that was over 50 years ago so I wouldn't swear to it.   Gary and I stayed until we had leftovers for supper and then walked home.

Gary and I had not expected to have a brother or sister coming to the house when we were 9 and 11.  But we had always wanted a little sister so we spent a great deal of time talking about having a sister and even picking out a name.   We would name her Elizabeth and call her Peggy.  Mom and Dad had gotten rid of the crib they used for Gary and I so they had a new crib set up in their bedroom and all was in readiness.

This is a photo of my twin brothers, Stanley J. and Steven K. Clark when they were about four or five months old.  They were born on January 27, 1955 at Genn Hospital, Wamego, Kansas.  I hope I'm right about this: Stan is on the left and Steve is on the right.

Mom was having such difficulty moving around that either my maternal grandmother, Mildred (McCauley) Corbin or our cousin, Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell were coming to stay during the day and help mom fix meals and do washing and all the other things that had to be done in a busy household.   They would fix supper and then go home.

On January 26, both pairs of grandparents, as well as Bonnie and Charlie Mitchell came to join in a birthday dinner for Gary Wayne.   Aunt Vivian (Corbin) and Uncle George Wild and Aunt Sarah (Corbin) and Uncle Les Justice dropped by after supper to have cake.   Grandmother Mabel (Jones) Clark was still the central office operator and wasn't able to get away.    We had a great time and played checkers after supper.    Everyone went home about 8pm.   Gary and I went to bed about 9pm as usual.   Mom and Dad were still up but getting ready for bed.

This is a photo of my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and her twin boys, Stanley J. on the left and Steven K. on the right.   The twins were not identical in the medical sense, but even for family members, it was difficult in early years to tell them apart.

On January 27th, we awakened at the usual time to find Aunt Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell there fixing breakfast.   She said, "Your Mom and Dad went to the hospital about midnight.   You get up and get ready for school.   I'll bet we'll be hearing from your Dad before long."    So Gary and I ate breakfast and talked about being able to meet our new sister, Peggy, before long.    School took up at 8:30am and we were both begging to stay home so we could get the news as soon as it arrived.   Aunt Bonnie was a "softie" and let us stay home.    About 10:00am, the phone rang and it was Dad calling from the hospital in Wamego.

"What do you think we have boys?"   Gary and I were both listening at the receiver and both of us said, "a girl of course!   How's Peggy?"    There was a pause at the other end of the phone and Dad said, "Well, we all got surprised.   We have twin boys!"

"Twin boys---oh no!!!    We wanted a sister."   Gary and I were terribly disappointed and handed the phone to Aunt Bonnie.    No one had known Mom was going to have twins.  

This is a photo of my father, John Leander "Tim" Clark, with his twin sons, Steve on the left and Stan on the right.   The photo is dated July 1955.   In the background is the screened-in back porch of the Maple Hill Central Office where his mother, Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark lived and worked.  The building in the far background is the Mackie/Schulte Garage and the back porch of Edith Barnhill's home.   All were on Main Street, Maple Hill, Kansas.                                                                              

Dr. Orval Smith, a three-generation physician in St. Mary, Kansas was Mom's doctor.   She had visited him several times before the birth but he had not detected two heart beats.   He later told dad that it was often difficult to hear different heart beats with twins.  There was no such things as ultrasound in the backwaters of Kansas in those days.   Mom hadn't had any real complications so there had been no reason for xrays.    Twins came as a total surprise but they were healthy boys, each weighing over six pounds!    That explained why my mother gained nearly 55 pounds with their pregnancy.

L-R:  Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark, Steven K. Clark, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and Stanley J. Clark.   These were the last grandchildren Mabel Clark had.     The photo is taken behind the Maple Hill Central Office, where she was chief telephone operator at the time.  This photo is also dated July 1955.

Dad said that he and Mom had not talked about boys names, Gary and I had convinced them it was going to be a girl and they really hadn't thought about boys names.   They finally agreed on Steven and Stanley but they couldn't come to agreement on middle names so they decided to just give initials.   Since Stan had been born first, they named him Stanley J. and gave his brother the next letter of the alphabet---Steven K.     Both were shortened to Stan and Steve.

Grandmother Corbin and "Aunt" Bonnie Mitchell had planned to paper Mom and Dad's bedroom while she was in the hospital.    In those days, with twins, you could stay for 10 days.   That project went on as planned but there was also a lot more scurrying around when it was necessary to get another crib and all the clothing that was needed for another baby.

My mother had four siblings, so you might think finding a crib was easy, but Uncle George and Aunt Frieda (Kitt) Corbin had a son, Ronald George, in 1954; my Aunt Joan (Corbin) and her husband Richard George Andrews had a son, Bruce Charles, in 1954; my Aunt Sarah (Corbin) and her husband Leslie Forest Justice had a son, Loren Lee in 1955; and my Aunt Vivian Mae and Uncle George Randolph Wild had a son, Randolph Corbin Wild in 1955-----so all family cribs were either in use or soon would be.    I don't remember if we bought a new crib or borrowed one from someone else, but by the time Dad brought Mom and the twins home, the bedroom was papered and there were two cribs set up for their use.

I was 11-years-old, so I think I would have remembered if they were fussy babies, but I don't remember them crying or fussing a lot.    They were both healthy, chubby little babies who were happy if they were dry and fed.    Gary Wayne and I soon forgot about having wanted a sister because twins in the family attracted a lot more attention!    We had lots of company as family and friends came to see the twins.

There was one unfortunate aspect of having brothers that were so much younger.   I was going to college the year the started to kindergarten.    I really didn't get to know them well because I was never home for any length of time while they were growing up.

Our Mom, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, passed away on January 5, 2011.   When the pastor came to help us plan the funeral service, I heard lots of stories about their youth that I had never heard before because I just wasn't there.

I telephoned all of my brothers for their birthdays this year.   Steven was quail hunting which is exactly what our dad, John Leander "Tim" Clark would have done on his birthday.   Stan was working and going out to lunch with friends.   Gary was lunching at home and getting ready to join Steve, Stan and their families at the Prairie Band Casino for dinner and some fun.     I wish I had been there to celebrate with them, but I wish them all a very Happy Birthday and many more.

I think I'll quit at this point and write blogs in the future about each of my brothers separately.    Happy Trails!