That Wonderful Mother of Mine

My mother, Mrs. Lucille (Corbin) Clark.

June 2003, age 82.



Call me sentimental and mushy---I don't care.   This is Mother's Day weekend and I can't let it pass without remembering my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark.  Now the problem is where to begin, since I have so many memories I know I can't include them all.

Lucille Clark loved "baptizing" her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.   She loved putting them in her kitchen sink, and like most mothers, looking them over carefully to see that everything was "alright."  This picture of Lucille was taken on April 21, 2008.  Mom was 87.  Pictured are Lucille (Corbin) Clark, her granddaughter, Amy (Clark) Allendorf, and great grandson, Wyatt Nicholas Allendorf. 

First and foremost, there was never a second I doubted that my mother loved me.   The four Clark brothers used to joke that Mom killed two lilac bushes getting switches to punish us---but it wasn't that bad and she never gave us punishment we didn't deserve.   

She passed away at nearly 90 on January 5, 2011.  My family stood for over five hours as people came to offer us their condolensces.   The phrase I remember hearing most often was, "Your Mom always knew how to cheer me up.   Before you could get a word out, she would grab you, give you a hug and say, 'Well how are you doing today Honey?'"  That was just the way Mom was.   She really didn't know an enemy and she'd say, "Don't let the sun set on your anger."  If only I could come somewhere close to what she taught me.

I remember as a small child, how my mom took what life dished out and never complained.   We didn't have running water in the house, so on Monday's she would take our little red wagon, put two five gallon buckets in it, and we would go the 100' from the house to the well where we'd pump the buckets full and then take them to the back porch where the Maytag washer was kept.  It would take 8 or ten trips to fill the washing machine and both the galvenized tubs for rinsing the wash.  Then she'd connect the submersible water heater to the electric outlet and wait for an hour until the water was heated in the washer.   Then she'd wash the white clothing (underware and Sunday shirts) followed by our colored shirts and finally the jeans.  Bluing always went into the wash water and an additional step was required for the things that had to be starched.   The wash had to be hung on the clothes line, whether it was 100 degrees or -10 below zero.   I remember when Mom got her first washer and drier in the 1960s.  When Maurice Meseke delivered them, I noticed the tears running down Mom's face.    I wondered why she was crying at the time.   Now, I fully realize what a blessing that washer and dryer were for her.  My generation and those that have followed take all that for granted.

Mom was a member of the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church for almost her entire life.   She loved the church, she loved the Sunday School and singing in the choir.   So it was only natural for her to make sure that her four sons were also in Sunday School and church every Sunday.  When our family and the Corbin family sat down for worship, it usually filled a couple of pews.  Since Mom sang in the choir, we sat with our grandparents, Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin.   Mom taught Sunday School as long as we were in grade and high school, and then sporadically for the next 30 years.   She sang in the choir for over 50 years and finally retired when she thought her voice was too "croaky."

I suppose it was only natural that I would love to sing, although I will give God credit for gifting me with a voice and ear adapted to singing.   From the time we were 5 or 6 years old, Mom would teach us songs and then Aunt Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier, or Mrs. Lois (Howard) Hammarlund, would accompany us as we sang for programs, contests and church.  I loved to sing and play the piano, I still do, and I give all the credit to my Mother's love of music.


Robert Corbin in his World War I uniform.  He was in the US Army and served as an ambulance driver in France.  As a child, I loved to hear him tell about how much he hated the mules that pulled the ambulances!


My Mother and Grandmother Corbin (and all of the Corbin family) were charter and/or long-time members of the American Legion Auxiliary in Maple Hill.  It was chartered in 1921 and they joined in honor of the service of Robert Corbin, who was a "doughboy" in France during World War I.  The Auxilary women all worked incredibly hard to build and pay for the two-story American Legion Hall on Maple Hill's Main Street.   They often had programs and teas where there was always a musical program.

I remember when I was about 10-years-old, my mom and Lois Hammarlund decided that I should sing a solo for the Annual Poppy Day Tea at the American Legion Hall.  Lois and mom chose, "That Wonderful Mother of Mine" as the song I should sing.   It was appropriate in that the poppy tea always fell on the second Saturday of May, the day before Mother's Day.   Lois played beautifully as she always did, and I sang in my little soprano voice.   There wasn't a dry eye in the house when I finished, and for twenty more years, I sang the song every Mother's Day in church.    Here's a rendition done by a men's chorus.   I think you'll agree it's a beautiful song and the words are incredibly meaningful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZuS1UbqLVg

When I was 11 and my brother Gary was 8, my mom and dad were "surprised" with the birth of twins, Steven K. and Stanley J. Clark.  Mom always said have twins so late in life kept her young--and to a degree, I suppose it did.   They were happy, healthy little babies and they kept all of us running!    In effect, it gave her two families to nurture and love.  Gary graduated from high school in 1965, and the twins graduated in 1973 so it doubled the time mom and dad spent in auditoriums watching basketball or sitting on baseball diamonds watch children play.   They loved sports.   Dad umpired and pitched baseball until he was past 50 and Mom worked in the concession stand and supported Dad and her children in every way she could.

After Gary and I were out of high school, Mom became the secretary at Maple Hill Grade School.   She was really in her element there.   I think answering the phone, typing reports, keeping track of lunch money and helping the teaching staff was really secondary.  What she really enjoyed was the daily contact with 80 or 90 children.   She treated each one as her own child and at her funeral, dozens of those children came to tell us what she had done for them.  Mom was happiest when she was dishing our love in huge proportions.

If  I could turn back the clock 50 years, I know exactly what I would be doing today.  By 8am, my mother, both grandmothers and all four of we brothers would be mustered into service gathering flowers and containers to be placed for "Decoration Day."   I don't know how long they had been puttin flowers on the graves of relatives and friends but they were surely following that custom by he time I was old enough to rmember in 1950, and we continued to do so until I moved away from Maple Hill, in 1978.

We would pick iris, peonies, spirea, asparagus fern, and anything else that was in bloom,and put the flowers into the trunk of a couple of cars.   The we would take boxes of blue Ball jars and gallon containers of water and we would set off for cemeteries where we had relatives buried.  

That would have included The Green Cemetery near Willard, Kansas, the Bethlehem Cemetery near Snokomo, the Phillips Cemetery on the hillside above Merle and Nora Lietz's home, and finally we would head for the Old Stone Church Cemeter at Maple Hill.   In each location, we would make flower arrangements in Ball Jars, take a small spade, remove a little soil,tamp the jar and soil into the ground and all the while, we would be talking about the relatives tha were buried there.   Perhaps that's why I remember stories about my ancestors.

 

We'd deliver the flowers to all locations on Saturday, because we always attended services at the Old Stone Church on Memorial Day Sunday.  The men of the James Elmer Romick American Legion Post would form a firing line before services and would offer a three-shot salute before forming a processing and carrying the American Flag and other appropriate flags into the church.   Family dinners and a community pot luck always followed the services.

 

The Old Stone Church and Cemetery, Maple Hill, Kansas. This photograph shows the church after it restored following the tornado of 1994, which completely destroyed the building. The Eliot Union Congregational Church was dedicated in August 1882 and was used until 1905, when a new church, the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church, was dedicated in the town of Maple Hill. The "new" church had formerly served as the Maple Hill Elementary School. The land was owned and doated by Maple Hill's founder, George A. Fowler, who also donated $5,000 towards the remodeling. After 1905, the stone church was used for weddings, funerals and Memorial Day Services. The cemetery continues to be the primary burial ground for the town of Maple Hill. This photograph was taken in 2008.  Mother was so proud of the newly placed marker honoring the James Elmer Romick American Legion Post. L-R are Lucille (Corbin) Clark and her eldest son, Nicholas L. Clark, Sr.

I could certainly continue with any number of stories about my Mother.  As gathered at her bedside, her last words to us were.  "I love you and I want you to always love each other."    We loved you Mom, and with your example, how could we do anything but love.

I wish all of my readers a very happy Mother's Day Weekend!!