One was the catastrophic flood of 1951 during which most of the rivers and streams in northern and eastern Kansas spilled over their banks and caused unbelievable damage.
Our family had moved from the Sells Ranch to the Harve Clark farm south of Maple Hill, and then we moved into a small, frame house at the north end of Maple Hill owned by Joe "Huck" and Ruth Raine. It was right next door to the much bigger house of Charles and Bonnie Mitchell and my mother and Aunt Bonnie did a lot of things together both in household chores and socially. Aunt Bonnie raised chickens and my brother Gary Wayne and I used to love helping her feed them and gather eggs. She and Uncle Charlie also had a large garden on the south side of their house so there was always work to do in the summer and also work in canning and preserving foods. Aunt Bonnie and my mother shared a Maytag washing machine and both washed on Monday mornings on Aunt Bonnie's back porch.
I've always wondered why "Aunt" Bonnie Mitchell seemed to give so much attention and love to my mother and I believe one of the reasons was that she had a daughter Sybil, who was the same age. Unfortunately, Sybil was eating supper and choked to death on a piece of meat when she was two and one-half years old. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Charlie could not save their daughter, and I think they just sort of "adopted" my mom as a replacement. That's not to say that Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Charlie didn't love all the Corbin family, because they certainly did. It seemed where ever you saw the Corbins, the Mitchells were also there.
I don't remember just how long we lived in the Raine house but I know for sure we lived there in the summer of 1951.
On a Monday in late June, 1951, Aunt Bonnie, my mother, Lucille Clark, myself and brother Gary Wayne went in Aunt Bonnie's Plymouth to spend the morning with my maternal grandmother, Mildred (McCauley) Corbin at their farm south of Maple Hill. I recall Grandmother Corbin was washing on her back porch and I don't really know why we weren't washing at Aunt Bonnie's, but I was only 6.
This is a photo of the Kansas River as 1951 flood waters poured over dikes and into the city. Most of the city on the north side of the river was flooded.
Suddenly, the telephone in the kitchen began to sound forth with short rings. That was the emergency signal. My paternal Grandmother, Mabel R. (Jones) Clark, was the central office telephone operator and she was on making an emergency line call to warm people along Mill Creek of impending disaster. This is what she said, "The depot agent at McFarland has advised that a 10' wall of water is coming down Mill Creek. Leave your homes and go to high ground immediately. I repeat, leave your homes and go to higher ground immediately."
I don't remember Grandmother Corbin saying anything to Grandmother Clark on the phone but she turned around and said, "We have to get out and go now!" With that, I do remember Gary and I started to cry but the women picked us up and we headed for the car. Mother drove and Grandmother Corbin sat in the front seat. Gary and I sat in the back with Aunt Bonnie Mitchell. Mother started the car and turned left out of the big circle driveway throwing gravel with both rear tires---something unheard of!!
Grandmother Corbin was telling us what she had heard on the phone and just then Mother looked in the rear view mirror and said, "There it comes---the water is just behind us." Mill Creek was within sight of the Corbin house, but the house was on the edge of a high ridge that was probably 20' to 30' above the bottom land. So far as anyone knew, flood water had never reached the house.
We drove a quarter mile east to where the gravel road turned north. At that corner, Mill Creek meandered to within 100 yards of the road. There were three houses there, one belonging to Don and Hattie McClelland, one of Paul and Margaret McClelland, and the other to the Yount family. Again, they were on high land and no one remembered them being flooded previously, even though they were very close to Mill Creek.
The water was still coming up as we reached the corner, but the land sloped upward even more as we went north. There was a slough that ran along the north side of the Rock Island Railroad track for about a mile and both ends of the slough connected with Mill Creek. So the water coming from the west was making its way down the main creek stream and also cutting through the slough. There was a small concrete bridge that drained the slough and just as we crossed it, we saw the high water coming through the slough. The land probably rose another 30' to the top of the hill from the slough, so by the time we reached the crest of the hill, we were high and dry. We all got out of the car and looked behind us and the whole Mill Creek Valley was one big lake. We were very glad we were safe.
All spring, heavy rains had been falling on the Kansas river and Mill Creek Valleys. The rain gauge on the Tod Ranch southeast of Maple Hill, measured 60" of rain for the spring. There were no man-made dams or lakes on the Kansas River at that time, so the flood had its way with most of northern and eastern Kansas as well as Nebraska and Missouri. Needless to say, the flood of 1951 instigated the building of many major dams and lakes along the Kansas River and its tributaries.
We got back in the car and headed for Maple Hill. Grandmother and Grandfather Corbin stayed with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Bonnie Mitchell for about two weeks until the flood waters receded. That same evening, Grandfather Corbin walked from Maple Hill towards their flooded farm. He waded through waist deep water until he reached Don and Hattie McClelland's farmhouse. Some of their lower outbuildings were under water but the house itself just had water up around the foundation. Don McClelland had his livestock all up in the front yard and Grandfather Corbin borrowed a big draft horse to ride one-quarter mile west to his farm.
When he got there, he found much the same thing. Water had come up around the foundation of the house about 10" high but had not gotten into the house. The storm "cave" south of the house was flooded, the chicken house and barn were flooded and the water well for both stock and house use had been filled with flood water and was ruined. But it could have been much worse. Grandfather had caught a ride to work at the Kansas Highway Department with a co-worker that day so their car was still at the farm. It had not been flooded but he wanted to get it out in case there was another bigger flood. He rode the horse back to McClelland's and walked back to the concrete bridge draining the slough, where he found my father, John L. "Tim" Clark spear fishing for big carp which were visible in the water and sort of trapped by the bridge. Dad took Grandpa Corbin back to Maple Hill in his car, and along with Uncle Leslie Justice and Uncle Charlie Mitchell, they returned to the farm.
Grandfather Corbin had a gigantic old John Deere tractor that had metal wheels and had to be started with a crank or by turning the flywheel. The body and motor were very high and hadn't been in water so when he turned the flywheel it started right away. The water had receded enough so that they could hook the tractor to the car and pull it to safety without damaging it so they did. Grandpa had been wise because the Kansas River began to rise dramatically and trapped the Mill Creek flood so that during that night, the water came up again but without flooding the house.
My father, John L. "Tim" Clark was working for Chuck Fauerback operating his big D-9 Caterpiller to build farm ponds and terraces. Chuck called my father and said, "Tim, you wanna have some fun? The Rock Island Railroad wants to try and save its track along the Kansas River at Willard and they want us to push boxcars of rocks into the river to try and prevent the bank from washing any further." My Dad not only needed the work but also thought it would be a fun job, so he told Chuck he would meet him at Willard, Kansas
To get there, my father had to drive about 50 miles out of his way, using roads that were built on high ridges to avoid flooded roads and bridges. When he got there, Chuck had traveled from his home in St. Marys, doing the same thing with his big flat bed truck, and had two dozers ready, a D-9 and a D-10. Little did they know what was ahead of them. It would be over 70 hours before they again had an opportunity to rest. The Rock Island hauled freight cars loaded with stone to the site almost continuously and the men pushed the cars into the raging Kansas River to but no avail. The work was extremely dangerous because the flood waters kept eroding the river bank away.
The tracks were lost to the Kansas River and to my Dad's surprise, after the waters went down not one of the boxcars could be seen. The river had swallowed them up and covered them with sand.
My Mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark was called into service by my Grandmother Mabel (Jones) Clark who needed her help in operating the Maple Hill Central Office. Usually, the rules were that no calls were accepted after 10:00pm and until 6:00am. But because of the flooding and the need for people to be warned of impending danger and evacuated from homes, the United Telephone Company authorized Grandmother Clark to keep the office open 24/7. So my mother, cousin Mable (Phillips) Herron, my Grandmother Clark and a few others arranged shifts so that someone was always at the switchborad.
I believe that the 1951 Flood was the last time we saw large numbers of steam locomotives in use on the Rock Island Railroad. Steam engines had pretty much been replaced by diesel locomotives but were brought out of storage and round houses and used as ballast to keep railroad bridges and tracks from washing away during the flood.
I don't recall how many there were in the Maple Hill area, but I would say five or six. They would be positioned on tracks, bridges or trestles but there would be some crew members who would use one of the engines to chug into Maple Hill where the men would have lunch at the Maple Hill Cafe. People would drive down to the Rock Island Depot at the south end of town, where they would have fun looking at the steam engines. I remember climbing aboard one of the engines and having the crew members let us pull the levers to make them go forward and backward and blowing the steam whistle. That was big stuff for a six-year-old!
I have visited with my brother, Gary Wayne Clark, and neither of us can put absolute and specific dates as to when we moved from place to place but we both remember events that occurred while we lived in specific houses. For instance, we both had our tonsils removed at Stormont Vail Hospital while we lived in the Raine House. I don't remember whether we had them done at the same time or whether I had mine taken out in 1951 and he had his removed in 1952. We both remembered that we were given lots of ice cream until our throats healed.
I'm fairly certain that our family moved from the Raine house to the home my Grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark, owned in the south part of Maple Hill. We lived there from about 1952 until 1958 when my mother replaced my Grandmother Clark as Maple Hill Central Office chief operator. We them moved to the the house that included the Maple Hill Central Office on Main Street. We lived there for a couple of years.
One of my uncles, Richard G. "Rick" Andrews, was employed at the Veteran's Hospital in Topeka, Kansas and was able to help my father, John L. "Tim" Clark get a job there in 1959. My mother was working full-time as the chief operator at the Maple Hill Central Office, so for the first time our family had a regular, dependable income.
In 1959, the U. S. Army was selling what had been former barracks dormitories at Ft. Riley, Kansas. Mom and Dad bid on one of the buildings and bought it for $1,000.00. My great grandmother, Susanna Jeanetta (Reinhardt) Jones owned two lots on the south side of her home on Prairie Avenue and she gave them to my parents. My Dad and my uncles all worked to dig the footings, poor concrete and lay the cement block foundation. Maple Hill had no city sewer in those days so they also had to put in a septic tank and lateral field. One day I went to high school and when I came home Mom said that our new house was on the foundation. A moving company had moved it from between Junction City and Manhattan, Kansas to Maple Hill.
Dad was a good carpenter as was Rick Andrews. As I remember, there weren't any interior walls in the barracks but there was some fiber board, electrical wiring and plumbing but all that had to be torn out. Dad and volunteer help, mostly from the family, put in the new sheetrock, wiring and plumbing.
Southwestern Bell bought the United Telephone Company and announced that they were closing all of the small central offices and converting all systems to dial telephones. My Mom's career as a telephone operator was very short because my Grandmother Mabel Clark retired in 1958, and my Mom left the telephone office in 1961. I believe that we moved into the new house, which was right across the alley from the Maple Hill Central Office, when they closed the telephone office in June, 1961. I was a junior in high school and my brother Gary Wayne was a freshman. I believe the twins, Steve and Stan Clark, were just starting to kindergarten. We all really enjoyed having our own home that we owned and didn't have to think about moving again.
My mother soon took a job as secretary at the Maple Hill Grade School and worked there for 17 years until retiring in 1989. Mother loved being a school secretary because in addition to doing the attendance reports and collecting school lunch money---she could "mother" 80 to 100 children. If there was one thing my Mom was good at, it was loving and taking care of kids. I don't know how many children went through grade school while she was there, but she knew each one of them by name and followed them long after they graduated. She kept boxes of birthday, wedding, get well and sympathy cards at her home and she remembered as many as she could for as long as she could. Her "kids" were so important to her and at her funeral dozens and dozens of them, long grown up and with children at their sides, came to tell us how much she meant to them.
Dad was at first a nursing aid, but later transitioned into occupational therapy at the VA Hospital. He worked with patients in rug weaving, small carpentry projects, and all kinds of crafts. It was something that kind of surprised his family and friends because it was foreign to the sports, fishing and hunting that filled his free time. Dad loved his work and his patients liked him.
Mom was very active in the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church and in the American Legion Auxiliary at Maple Hill. She taught Sunday School and sang in the church choir from the time she was in high school until long after we were out of high school. She served on the Church Board of Trustees and spent the last 10 or more years of her life as church historian. After she retired from Maple Hill Grade School, she joined the quilting group and spent many happy years around quilting frames with her friends. She made quilts for her four sons and for several of her grandchildren. She loved to embroider and cross stitch and did that work on many of the quilt blocks the quilters put together and worked for silent auctions. The quilters donated thousands of dollars to the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church.
The Maple Hill High School Band and American Legion Color Guard march in the Armistice Day Parade held on Maple Hill's Main Street. The American Legion Hall is the two-story building on the right side of Main Street in the background. This photo is from about 1949 or 1950.
Grandfather Robert Corbin, Great Uncle Robert McCauley, Uncle Richard Andrews, Uncle Leslie Justice, my brother Gary Wayne Clark and many other family members were all veterans of the U. S. Army. My Grandmother Mildred Corbin, Aunt Bonnie Mitchell, my Mom and all of most of my mother's sisters were active in the American Legion Auxiliary in Maple Hill. The legion and auxiliary were responsible for building the American Legion Hall and for holding Armistice Day Dinners there. The American Legion always provided a color guard for the Memorial Day Services at the Old Stone Church and they still do.
Lucille (Corbin) Clark was happiest when she had a baby in her arms. This picture was taken with her great grandson Wyatt Allendorf in 2008. She loved giving them all baths in her kitchen sink. Below is Grandma Lucy, Granddaughter Amy (Clark) Allendorf, and Great Grandson Wyatt Allendorf getting his bath in the kitchen sink.Just as my mother and father were contemplating being able to retire and enjoying themselves, my father became ill with lung cancer. Dad retired from the Veteran's Hospital earlier then he had planned at the age of 60 in 1981. He was not able to recover and died in April 1982. Mother continued working at the Maple Hill Grade School and retired in 1989 after 17 years.
My Mom enjoyed 22 years of retirement and during that time was very active in raising her grandchildren and great grandchildren, participating in church activities, quilting, and other kinds of community endeavors. Mom was never one to sit at home and do nothing, she enjoyed being active and working in the community. Mom enjoyed traveling and came to visit me in Oregon, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Indiana where I was working. She also loved to travel with her brothers and sisters, going to Las Vegas, Branson, Missouri and other places. Her sister Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier and her children were wonderful in always including my Mom when they traveled. She enjoyed them all. Mom was always ready to go when invited.
This photo was taken in 2009 and shows my Mom, Lucille Clark, sitting in the middle of her quilting "family" at the Maple Hill Community Congregational Fellowship Hall.Her family held an 80th birthday party for her on April 22, 2001 at the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church Fellowship Hall. There were 108 relatives present and as many friends who came to wish her many more happy birthdays. Mother didn't like the "limelight" as she called it, but she always enjoyed having friends and family nearby to hug and visit with.
A 2006 photo showing four generations: Nicholas L. Clark holding grandson William Henry Allendorf, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and Amelia M. V. (Clark) Allendorf.
An October 13, 2006 photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark holding great grandson Liam Clark, son of Nicholas and Natalie (Bachynsky) Clark, in their new home in Lafayette, Indiana.Mother enjoyed remarkable health. My brother, Gary Wayne Clark, moved in with her in 2007 and lived with her the last five years of her life. They were great companions and helpmates. Mother continued to drive, attend church and participate in family gatherings until she was 89, when her health began to fail. She would always say, "I've been so blessed and I'm at peace with my Lord so I'm ready to go when He is." The Lord called her after a short hospitalization on January 5, 2011---her father Robert Corbin's birthday.
Mom wouldn't like me telling about her wake and funeral but I want to leave these words for posterity. I knew my mother was a good person and that she gave far more than was required to family, friends and complete strangers---but I don't think any of her sons had any idea the extent of her selflessness until we spoke with the hundreds who came those final days. The students who knew her from Maple Hill Grade School told us of how she had had a hand in changing so many lives. People I didn't even know told me how she had taken them to the doctor, given them money for medicine, bought groceries for them and on and on. We were just emotionally drained after receiving their condolences and hearing their tributes. The pastor, in his tribute at the funeral, said that "....Lucille Clark was Christ's hands and feet on earth." I don't know what more anyone could say. We who loved her still miss her every day. Over 300 attended her wake and both the Maple Hill church and fellowship hall were filled for her funeral service. Good works go hand in hand with Christian faith. If any of us who knew her fail---it isn't because she didn't set a good example.
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