Decoration Day/Memorial Day Memories

This weekend has traditionally been significant in the history of my hometown, Maple Hill, Kansas.

As a youth of 10 or 12, I remember everyone calling this Decoration Day.   Over the years, it became known as Memorial Day, a time when we pause to remember our family, friends and others who have served in the armed forces of the United States.

This year will be no exception as folks gather for Memorial Day services at the Old Stone Church and Maple Hill Cemetery.    The Old Stone Church, or Eliot Congregational Church, as it was known initially, is the parent church of the present Maple Hill Community Congregational Church.   Once each year, on Memorial Day, MHCCC holds its services at the Old Stone Church to honor its heritage and to salute veterans of the church and those buried in the cemetery that surrounds it.

This photo was taken in 2011 and shows members of the James Elmer Romick American Legion Post at Maple Hill lined up to fire a salute, play taps and then escort the colors into the church.  That has been the tradition as long as I can remember.

The Eliot Congregational Church, commonly known as the Old Stone Church, was dedicated in 1882 and was twice destroyed and rebuilt.   In 1955, the church burned to the ground leaving only the stone walls.   It was repaired and rededicated in 1963.    In 1994, the church including the stone walls, was destroyed by a tornado.    It was loving restored using the original stone, and rededicated in 1997.    Nothing was changed except new, modern windows were installed. 
The Avenue of Flags was a project of the American Legion Auxiliary, and many donated money to make it possible to have one flag for each of the fifty states line the cemetery road.

This photo of my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and oldest son Nicholas L. Clark, Sr. was taken in 2010.   My Mom would shame me for saying that she was proud of her work with and for the Legion and America Legion Auxiliary, but she was a member for 73 years and served as president of the American Legion Auxiliary for many decades.  

Over the past ten years or so, a new feature has been included with Civil War reinactors bringing their cannon to the cemetery and firing their own salute to those veterans who are buried there.   The "soldiers" come in their respective uniforms, form ranks and fire the salute.   It's a very nice tribute.

My maternal grandmother, Mildred (McCauley) Corbin, all of my aunts, Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier, Sarah Emma (Corbin) Justice, and Vivian (Corbin) Wild were members of the American Legion Auxiliary and worked on various projects.   My cousin, Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell was also involved for many decades and her brother, Pinkney Thomas, was commander of the American Legion in Oklahoma.  It was decided that the Legion and American Legion needed a permanent home and meeting place in the community and funds were donated to purchase a lot on Main Street and build a new, brick American Legion Hall.

I have purchased many picture post cards of Maple Hill on Internet auction sites, and among them was this one.

I don't know the exact date when the photograph was taken, but the post card was used and the stamp cancelled in September 1916.   When I initially purchased the card, I thought that it was a photograph of the newly completed American Legion Hall.   But after closer examination, it was evident that the two-story brick building was instead the David Stewart General Store.  The Maple Hill Masonic Hall occupied the entire second floor.  This building burned in 1919 and the American Legion Hall was built on the same lot on the west side of Main Street in 1921.

Maple Hill was visited by many horrendous fires during it's early history.   Nearly every building was burned to the ground on both the east and west sides of Main Street.   The Stewart Family certainly sustained many losses during that time.   From the Maple Hill News Items in area papers, I've collected a little history of the Stewart family's businesses.

June 1890 - Gilbert Stewart, Maple Hill's pioneer butcher, has sold his business to his sons, David and Robert.    Gilbert Stewart came to Maple Hill from Paxico soon after the town was established and has been an integral part of the community since.

May 1901 - Fire destroyed nearly all the west wide of Main Street including Gilbert Stewart's Meat Market and Ice House.

July 19, 1901 - Dolly and Stewart's (David Stewart) stored burned to the ground.   Robert Stewart's barbershop also burned.

December 1902 - The newly constructed building owned by Dolly and Stewart burned to the ground.

October 20, 1903 - David Stewart's store burned to the ground but the building and contents were covered by $10,000 in insurance and he will rebuild.This time, the building will be brick and stone.

April 1919 - David Stewart has sold his store to Sam Wiley and will retire.

December 12, 1919 - Sam Wiley's two-story store and the Masonic Hall, burned to the ground last night and was a total loss.   Wiley had no insurance.

David Stewart went back into the grocery store business in 1924, but not in that location.   He purchased the store and goods of Russell T. Updegraff and continued in business until 1927 when he again sold his store and retired.

The Maple Hill American Legion Hall was destroyed in January 2002 when a heavy ice storm collapsed the roof.   The second story fell into the first and onto other nearby buildings.   Luckily no one was injured but it was decided not to rebuild the American Legion Hall.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012 friends and families will gather at the Old Stone Church to honor our veterans, just as they have for nearly 100 years.

Happy Trails!

Is There A Native American Connection In The Family???

A definitive answer to this question remains elusive and unsettled.     I believe that there may be several, and they all seem to be associated with the Cherokee Tribe, but I have not been able to find them on any of the tribal rolls or censuses that were taken.    All the possible connections are on my father's side of the family.

I'm going to include some photographs and let you decide if appearances have any bearing on this matter.

This is a photograph of Percilla (Treadway) Woody, who is my paternal 3rd great grandmother.    I obtained this photograph from the Georgia State Historical Society's Iconographic Collection in Atlanta.   On the back of the original photograph was written:  "Percilla Woody, 1799-1888, Lumpkin County, Georgia.   Cherokee Mid-Wife."  I was visiting the Cherokee Tribe's Heritage Center in Talequah, OK where I was trying to find some connection to the Treadway Family.    The person working in the genealogy department could not find any information about Percilla Treadway Woody, but when I showed her the photograph, she said, "Oh she's wearing an old medicine collar."   She went on to explain that this was a cloth and beadwork collar that was often worn by those among the Cherokee who were  knowledgeable about plants and their healing powers.   That's as much as I have ever found out.

This is a photograph of my great grandmother, Hanna Virginia "Vergie" (Miller) Jones.  She was born on the Potawatomi Indian Reservation in Jackson County, Kansas in 1875 and died in 1901.  Her father, William Washington Miller, was a tenant farmer for the Potawatomi on allotted land.  He was born in Andrew County, Missouri in 1848 and his mother, Cintha Wilhite, was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1824.  There's a tradition in the family that Cintha Wilhite was also a Cherokee.    As a result of the Trail of Tears, the removal of the Cherokee from North Carolina and Georgia to Oklahoma, there were many Cherokee individuals and families who simply "dropped off" the caravan and remained in states they traveled through.  Many of the Scotch, Irish and German pioneers married Cherokee women.    Again, I have no evidence but if appearances count, Vergie (Miller) Jones sure has the beautiful characteristics of a Native American woman.

This is a photograph of my grandmother, Mable Rachel (Jones) Clark and her sister, Edith Belle (Jones) Strowig.  The date is not known, but they appear to be in their early 20s.   Both of these ladies have the characteristics of Native American women.    When Aunt Edith was in her 70s, and visiting my grandmother, I asked her if she knew anything about a Native American connection in the family.    All she said was, "It wasn't a popular subject when I was growing up and I didn't care anything about it."   Vergie (Miller) Jones died in 1901 when her daughters were very young.   Mable was 8 and Edith was 6-years-old.  They were taken to be raised by their maternal grandparents, William and Sarah (Wykert) Miller.  The Millers lived in a log house on the Potawatomi Indian Reservation about four miles east of Delia, Jackson County, Kansas.  All of their close neighbors, and many of their childhood friends, were all Potawatomi children.   To be trusted with farming the allotment land of the Potawatomi, it seems likely that the Potawatomi land owners would have given preference to someone with Native American blood and ancestry.   Again, I have no hard evidence but it is a reasonable connection.

When I was growing up, I spent an inordinate amount of time with my grandparents.   I don't know why but I was always interested in hearing the old stories.   I would beg my grandparents to tell me about "the old days" or "pioneer stories."   Of course, they were more than willing to do so.

I would visit my paternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark at the Maple Hill Central Office where she was the chief operator.    In between calls, she would often tell me stories and show me old pictures and family treasures.    Among those treasures was a set of beadwork cuffs and moccasins.  The background color of beads was a pretty gold and down the center of the beadwork were violets with a green stem and leaves.   She said that they were given to her by Mary Maqua (Bear) the mother of one of her friends on the Potawatomi Indian Reservation, where she grew up.    I have those objects now and about 20 years ago, my daughter was interested in them and copied the beadwork pattern on moccasins she wore.  

When I was young (under 10 but I don't remember what age exactly) my Grandmother Clark called me one day and said, "My Indian friends are coming from Delia and we're going to make hominy."  Grandmother invited me to come to the Central Office and be "seen and not heard."   I lived only a short distance away and walked to the Central Office.   Pretty soon a car with four women arrived and in the trunk they had baskets of corn.    In the old days, Grandmother said that they made the lye needed to soften and remove the hard outer shell on the corn kernel, by running water through barrels of wood ashes.   She said when the water that drained through the barrel had enough lye content, an egg would float on top the water.   Then they'd put the corn in the water and soak it until the other husk came off.    After that the soft inner kernel was washed and the lye caused it to "puff up" and form the hominy.   That was then dried on old window screens.   Grandmother would put cheese cloth over the screen, pour on the corn kernels and then cover them with another layer of cheese cloth to keep the flies off.   The corn would dry in the hot sun and would then be stored until needed.   The dried corn was then mixed with water and re-hydrated in cooking.   Salt pork was usually added to give it flavor, but Grandmother also said that if you didn't have pork they often added rabbit, squirrel or other meat they could hunt in the timber.

Here's a good website with complete instructions if you'd like to try and make hominy:

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/24412/t/How-To-Make-Hominy.html

Grandmother Clark loved to visit her Potawatomi friends and often took me with her.   As time went by, some began to pass away and she would go to the "drum" funeral ceremonies.    In the summer, the Potawatomi held a fair and pow wow and Grandmother would take me (I don't remember if she also took my brother Gary Wayne) and we would go to Mayetta for the day and visit with those she was acquainted with.

So can I prove that our family has Native American ancestry:   No.   But the evidence is pretty compelling.   If anyone reading this article has information that would shed more light, please write me in the comment section at the end of this article.

Happy trails!

John L. and Lucille (Corbin) Clark: A Second Son

GARY WAYNE CLARK

Gary was born to John L. "Tim" and Lucille (Corbin) Clark on January 26, 1947 Christ's Hospital (now Stormont Vail Hospital) in Topeka, Kansas.  He weighed 8 pounds and 6 ounces.  Tim and Lucille were living near Silver Lake, Kansas. Gary was in the first class to go to school in new grade one-story brick Maple Hill Grade School as a first grader in 1953. He graduated from Maple Hill High School in 1965.

This is a photograph of Gary W. Clark taken in 1949 as he was about to receive the merchant's treat from Santa Claus at the Maple Hill Town Christmas Party in the American Legion Hall.   The little girl in the dress with the sailor's collar is Trudi Mee, daughter of Lyndon and Marie (Beach) Mee.

Gary started to work for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe  Railroad in August 1965 in the audit office in Topeka, Kansas. He got drafted into US Army in March 1966. He went to basic training in Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri and then attended Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. He went through eight weeks of infantry training, but then, due to an injury, was transferred to clerk training. He Left Louisiana in October of 1966 and was stationed with the 1st Battalion of the 33 rd Artillery in the Personnel office in Ansbach, Germany. He attained the rank of Specialist 5 prior to discharge in March of 1968.

This is a photograph of Nicholas Leander and Gary Wayne Clark taken in 1948.  Mother had taken us to Topeka where we'd gotten shoes at Montgomery Ward.   The had the photo machine there.

In 1968, Gary returned to work at the Santa Fe audit office. He transferred from the audit office to car service accounting so he could work nights while attending Washburn University in Topeka during the day. Gary completed one year at Washburn and then transferred to Emporia State Teachers College in the fall of 1970. He worked at Iowa Beef Packers in the slaughterhouse in Emporia, Kansas for the summer of 1971. He left there and got a part time job with Fleming Foods in Topeka as a billing clerk in the warehouse at night. He worked there until graduating with a BS degree in Business Administration in May of 1973.

From there he drove a truck on a harvest crew with friends until the Fall and then went to work for Woolco Department Stores in the Credit department as Assistant Credit manager. He Worked there until the Fall of 1974 when he went to work for Kansas Department of Health and Environment as an Accountant in the Business Office. In August of 1975 he accepted a position with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation as their Accountant/Business Manager.

Gary married Teresa O'dell in March of 1976. They were divorced in 1985. They had no children.

Poor Gary Wayne had to suffer with having his photograph taken with me time after time---sorry Gary.   This photograph of Gary W. on the left and Nicholas "Nickey Lee" on the right was taken about 1949 or 1950 in front of the Maple Hill Central Office, Maple Hill, Kansas.

Gary continued with the accountant job at KBI until December 1981 when he took a job as a trainee in the KBI Forensic Crime Laboratory as a Forensic Document Examiner. This involved a two year training program which included working with an experienced Forensic Scientist in his area of study and he also attended a number of training sessions with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Training Academy as well as The United States Secret Service Training Division. After completion of training, he completed the certification testing conducted by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners. This was approximately a six month process and included written tests, completion of practical problems and demonstration of your findings to a panel of board directors. By passing this testing, Gary became a Certified Forensic Document Examiner, one of only about 100 individuals in United States and Canada who had successfully completed this process. In order to maintain this certification it was necessary to attend week long training seminars with professional and scientific organizations each year to learn new techniques and methods and share information with other Forensic Scientists from other Laboratories. Gary is a member emeritus of the Midwest Association of Forensic Scientists and the International Association for Identification.

This picture was taken on Thanksgiving Day, 2004 at the home of Gary W. Clark in north Maple Hill, Kansas.  First row L-R:  Josh Clark, Katy Clark, Brenda Clark, Lucille Clark, and Karen Clark.   Back Row, L-R:  Steven Clark, Stanley Clark, Gary W. Clark, Timothy John Clark and Nicholas L. Clark, Sr.

A Forensic Document Examiner's work includes the comparison of questioned and known handwriting and hand printing for the purpose of identification of the author or the detection of forgery of all types of documents. Besides handwriting comparison, they also performed paper and ink comparisons, comparison of mechanical impressions on documents such as those made by typewriting devices, adding machines, photocopy machines, rubber stamps, computer printers, printing presses etc., for the purpose of identifying the source of documents or proving that documents were not made on purported devices. They also examine counterfeit currency, checks, and money orders, etc.

Uncle Gary W. Clark used to take his nephew Nicholas Clark, II fishing.   This picture was taken in about 1976 after they had been on a fishing excursion.

Examinations also included detection of indented impressions on documents that could not be seen, in most cases, with the naked eye. When you write on a pad of paper and then tear off the top sheet, often indented impressions are left on the next sheet of paper below the surface where the original writing was made. If the pad is found at a suspects residence, in their possession, or in their vehicle, etc.. These types of impressions are often very important in connecting a suspect to a crime such as threatening letters, drug transaction notes, bank robbery notes, etc. The impressions must be developed using the Electrostatic Detection Apparatus or by using specialized lighting and photographic techniques.

Mylar film ribbons and cartridges from suspect typewriters were often submitted for detection of words and letters on their surface that were also found on documents in question. This was done by using transmitted light to detect the characters and then photographing the characters on the ribbon. Then a side by side comparison of the characters found on the ribbon and the text of the document could be made. This was often useful in connecting individuals to counterfeit documents or in some cases threatening letters sent to individuals.

This photograph was taken in front of the Old Dutch Mill in Wamego, Kansas on our mother's 88th birthday, April 22, 2010.  Lucille (Corbin) Clark is on the left and Gary Wayne Clark is on the right.

The most important part of a Forensic Document Examiners work, besides reporting results of examinations to contributors to aid them in their investigations, is of course to appear in Criminal Courts as an expert witness, to demonstrate and explain his or her findings to a Jury and assist them in determining the guilt or innocence of suspects charged with crimes.

Gary retired from the KBI Laboratory in 2003 after enjoying many years of an interesting and rewarding career. He is now enjoying his leisure time fishing, hunting, golfing and the rest of his time he just wastes doing whatever he wants to. Life is good.

Nick's Additional Thoughts.

Thanks for writing the above information Gary, but as your older brother, I'll take the prerogative to add a couple of things. 

When Gary was in his early teens, he was playing softball and slid into the base and dislocated his hip bone from the socket.  He had a lot of pain and so our Mom took him to Dr. Orval Smith at St. Marys, who said it was a pulled muscle.  So Gary tried to continue to play basketball until he no longer could. That is when the folks took him to Kansas Crippled Children and they sent me to an Orthopedic clinic, operated by Drs. Trees, Joyce and Kroll. Dr. Joyce had me walk for him and knew right away what was wrong.   Surgery was needed.  During the operation, they had to cut a wedge out of Gary's hip bone in order to straighten it as it had bent quite a bit from walking and running on it. They pinned the bone together after removing the wedge. Then they pinned the hip back into the socket.  Gary's right leg wound up about an inch shorter than the left but they told him he could do anything he was able to do. They later operated on him again to remove all pins after the bone and socket had healed.  .

 

This photograph was taken sometime in the 1990s at our mother's home in Maple Hill, Kansas.  L-R are Gary W. Clark, Steven Clark, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, Stanley Clark and Nicholas L. Clark.

Gary was in the hospital for several months and then came home.    I'll never forget the day he was brought home because of what happened.    He was in a body cast, plaster from under his arms all the way down to his knees.   I've forgotten how much that cast weighed but it was many, many pounds.  He was carried into the house and put onto the bed, and I don't think two hours had gone by until the tornado siren went off.   We couldn't see a tornado but the radio was telling us that there was a tornado and that it was headed for Maple Hill.  We all began to think of what we should do.    We didn't have a basement in our house but we could have carried him back outside and across the road to our neighbor's house.  The people had left that had delivered Gary and there was just Mom, myself and I believe Grandmother Corbin and Aunt Bonnie Mitchell.   There was no way we could carry him out of the house and across the street.

Our mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, stayed calm.   She said, "We're all going to stay right here and pray for that tornado to miss us."    I don't remember the prayers, if they were audible or silent, but that's just what we did----and the tornado never materialized.   Our mother had the strongest faith of anyone I've ever known.   She was always optimistic and saw the good side of everything.   God bless her!

I was given a 4-F classification when I went for my draft physical, because I had and still have high blood pressure.   We all through because of Gary's hip replacement he would not be taken into the military service.   They saw all of his medical records and still took him into the service.   The rigorous training he received at Ft. Leonardwood and later at Fort Polk was too much for his leg and he eventually had to undergo surgery for varicose veins.  He  had to walk on crutches for a couple of weeks after surgery and wrapped it for a month with bandages.    Rather than give him an honorable discharge, the U.S. Army sent him to Germany where he had lighter duty.   If there was one blessing, it was that he didn't have to go to Viet Nam, which is where he was headed from Ft. Polk. 

Lastly, I want to mention that Gary lived with our mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark for the last five plus years of her life.  It was such a blessing for them both, but speaking for myself, I want to thank Gary for all the love and attention and kindness he showed Mother over that time.   She could not have stayed in her home from age 85 to age 90 without her help.   It was always her wish that she not be put into a nursing home and Gary made that wish come true.   I know that there were benefits both ways but our family will always be grateful to him for the gift of those years added to Mother's freedom and life.

Gary continues to live in Maple Hill, Kansas and as he says, "Life is good!"

Happy Trails!

The Children of Nicholas L. Clark: Nicholas L. Clark, II and Amelia "Amy" M.V. Clark

I am pleased to be the father of two wonderful children:

Nicholas L. Clark, II

Nicholas L. Clark, II was born May 1, 1973 at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka, Kansas.   Nicholas spent the first seven years of his life at Moundview Farm in Maple Hill, Kansas and then moved with his parents to Moscow, Idaho, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Jacksonville, Oregon, Muncie, Indiana and Lafayette, Indiana.

Nicholas attended schools in Idaho, Wisconsin, Oregon and graduated from Burris Laboratory School, the teacher training academy, for Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana.  Nicholas attended Ball State University and graduated from Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana with a Bachelor of Science.

Nicholas was married to Natalie Bachynsky at Burrows Presbyterian Church, Burrows, Indiana by his father, Pastor Nicholas L. Clark, Sr.  Natalie Bachynsky is the daughter of Leo and Helen Bachynsky, of Smithfield, Virginia and is also a graduate of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.

Wedding photograph of Nicholas L. Clark, II and his bride Natalie Anne Bachynsky taken at Burrows Presbyterian Church, Burrows, IN.

Nicholas and Natalie are the parents of two children:  Liam Timothy Clark born November 26, 2005 at Home Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana and Mia Olena Clark born March 26, 2007 at Home Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana.

Nicholas worked at Kirby Risk Electric Supply in Lafayette, Indiana until he and his family moved to Suffolk, Virginia where he is employed at Electrical Equipment Company, the premier distributor of electrical supplies and equipment in Norfolk, Virginia.

This photograph was taken in December 2008.  Left to right are Natalie, Liam and Nicholas holding Mia Clark.

Nicholas, Natalie, Liam and Mia Clark live in Suffolk, Virginia.


















Amelia Mary Verona Clark

Amelia Mary Verona "Amy" Clark was born on March 30, 1977 at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka, Kansas.   Amy spent the first several months of her life at Moundview Farm in Maple Hill, Kansas and then moved with er parents to Moscow, Idaho, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Jacksonville, Oregon, and Muncie, Indiana.

Amy attended schools in Wisconsin, Oregon and graduated from Burris Laboratory School, the teacher training academy for Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.   Amy was a Rotary Exchange Student in Barcelona, Spain during her junior year at Burris Laboratory School, where she graduated with honors.

This photo was taken when Amy Clark graduated from Miami University of Ohio.  L-R are Amelia "Amy" Clark, her paternal grandmother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and her brother Nicholas L. Clark, II.

Amy received a full academic scholarship to Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio and went on to receive her MBA from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

A photograph of the wedding party of Richard James and Amelia "Amy" (Clark) Allendorf.

On October 18, 2002, Amy was married to Richard James Allendorf, son of Richard Henry and Linda (Scherpenburg) Allendorf, Cincinatti, Ohio.   They were married in the Kumler Chapel on the Miami University Campus in Oxford, Ohio.

Amy and Rich are the parents of three boys:  William Henry Allendorf born March 25, 2005 in Iowa City, Iowa; Wyatt Nicholas Allendorf born October 11, 2007 and Weston James Allendorf born December 23, 2011 both born at Cincinnati, Ohio.

L-R:  Wyatt Nicholas, William Henry and Weston James Allendorf taken in 2012.

Rich is also a graduate of Miami University of Ohio where he was the recipient of a basketball scholarship and played center for their team.   Rich has an MBA from the Xavier University of Cincinnati and is employed at Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Amy was last employed by Toyota Corporation in their marketing department before becoming a full-time mother.

The Allendorfs live in Loveland, Ohio.

More Memories from the Life of Nicholas L. Clark, Sr.

There are many memories from 1951, but none are clearer than those surrounding the disastrous 1951 flood, which occurred during the month of July.

The record-breaking flood occurred throughout Nebraska, northern Kansas, Iowa and Missouri    I read in the Maple Hill News reports in the Alma Signal Enterprise that over 60" of rain fell from March through June at the Tod Ranch south of Maple Hill. There were no flood control projects or dams built on any of the major rivers at that time, so there was no way to hold or store flood waters. Of course, that all changed after 1951.  Today it would be impossible for such a flood to occur unless one of the dams broke on a major Kansas River.

I have a very clear memory of how we first experienced the flood. It had rained all weekend Monday dawned clear and beautiful. Our family lived in a small rental house in the north end of Maple Hill, next door to Aunt Bonnie (Thomas) and Uncle Charlie Mitchell. My mother went over and suggested to Aunt Bonnie that we all drive to Grandmother Mildred Corbin's to wash. So we loaded laundry in the car and drove to Grandmother Corbins.

It took a while for my brother Gary and I, helped by my mother, to carry wash water from the well in our wagon. We had to fill the Maytag as well as two rinse tubs with water. That could take as many as ten trips to the well, which was 100 yards away. Then we had to put an electric heater in the Maytag wash tub to heat the water. I suppose it may have been 10am before that was done. We had the white clothes in the washer when the phone on the wall of Grandmother Corbin's kitchen began to ring short continuous rings. That was a signal to all on the party line that there was emanate danger of some kind. Grandmother rushed to the phone and was silent as my other Grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark relayed information from the Central Office: "Leave your homes immediately and flee to higher ground. A 10' wall of water is coming from McFarland towards Paxico and Maple Hill."

Grandmother looked shocked as she turned to us and said, "We must leave now. Don't take anything just get in the car. We have to go to town NOW!" I remember Gary and I started to cry as the women picked us up and headed for Aunt Bonnie's four-door Plymouth sedan. My mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark drove and Grandmother Corbin got in the passenger seat. Gary and I sat on their side of Aunt Bonnie Mitchell in the back seat. As mother was starting the car, Grandmother Corbin told us what Grandmother Clark had said on the phone. Mother started the car, put it in gear and threw gravel behind the tires as we turned right out the circle drive of the farm and headed towards Maple Hill.

This is a 1951 photo of the Kansas River flooding both sides of east Topeka. My maternal great grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Banta-Strong's home was flooded on Paramore Street in the area known as Oakland. Although nearly 80, she refused to leave her home. The water eventually reached a depth of 3' in the second story of her home but she stayed put. Later, we found that she had lots of cash hidden in baking powder cans about the house. She didn't trust banks and always kept a lot of cash in her home. She died four years later, and I remember Grandmother and Grandfather Corbin carefully going through cabinets, looking under carpets, and pulling mattresses apart. They always doubted they found much of what was there.
It was about a quarter mile from the Corbin house to the first left turn in the road. There were three houses there, those of Don McClelland and Hattie (McClelland) Wilson, the Young Family and the Paul McClelland Family. As she turned the corner, mother looked into the rear view mirror and said, "Oh my God, the water is coming behind us."

We all turned to look behind the car and sure enough, there was a little wall of water coming fast right behind us. Mother literally floor boarded the accelerator because for the next quarter mile we would be running parallel to the on-coming water. If we could make it one-quarter of a mile and cross a small bridge crossing a slough, we'd be safe. The road into Maple Hill made a sharp rise after the slough bridge.

Luckily, the Corbin Farm sat on the brink of a high ridge. The Mill Creek bottom was a good 10' below the Corbin farmhouse. Therefore, the full force of the wall of water greatly diminished as it approached. What was coming towards us was probably not more than 12" high if that but it certainly looked ominous.

The water reached the road and began to go under the car just as we reached the bridge of the slough and safety. Mother continued to drive to the top of the little hill and then stopped the car. We got out and looked behind us and could see nothing but water across the entire Mill Creek valley to the south. We had beat the flood waters and we were safe, but what was to come was one of the worst flood disasters in Kansas History.

There were 41 students in Maple Hill High School when I started in 1959. My 1962 graduating class of 10 (five girls and five boys) will celebrate our 50th Reunion in June of this year. I'm hopeful all of us will be there and each of us has remarkable achievements in our own fields of endeavor. In high school I had the basics, English, math, chemistry, literature, history, government, biology, and we also had electives. I took two years of Latin and two years of Spanish and I also took three years of typing and then shorthand in my senior year. I was always glad I had taken the classes because I could take almost word-for-word notes in college classes. I also played in our 30-piece band and sang in our choir. We fielded a six-man football team and had basketball and track teams.

This is a photograph taken in 1938, showing the Maple Hill High School Football six-man team plus a substitute, on the playing field.   The football field was located where the baseball diamond currently is in Maple Hill City Park.   My father, John Leander "Tim" Clark is the second from the right end.  In the background are the Beaubian Hotel (which was then occupied by the Hedges Family) and the Rock Island Depot.  If anyone knows who the other players are, please leave me a note in the "Comment" sectoin at the bottom.

The Kansas capital, Topeka, was just 25 miles away and during my growing up years, for the first time, Maple Hill began to transition from a rural, remote farming village into a bedroom community. The younger generation no longer worked on area farms, but left the farm and went to the city for their livelihood. I was the first person in my family to attend college and graduate. My brother Gary Wayne Clark graduated from Emporia State College. We both worked our ways through college, and our first jobs in high school were as hands for area farmers, but our "real" first jobs were in Topeka. Our grandparents and parents were always there urging us on and doing what they could to help. My mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, worked six to eight hours Monday through Saturday at the Oberhelman Egg Plant in north Maple Hill, washing and candling eggs, and Mom sent almost every cent she made to Gary and I to help us stay in school.

My first experience with college was a failure. I had received a "one" rating at the area music festival and advanced on to the state festival in Emporia, Kansas. Ruth Raine drove me there to participate and her daughter Ruth Ann Raine (Rogers) was my accompanist. I sang Handel's "Where Er You Walk." One of the judges at state contest was Dr. Morris Hayes, director of the Kansas State University Varsity Men's Glee Club. I did well and again received a "one" rating. Dr. Hayes approached me after the contest and asked if I would like to attended Kansas State and participate in the Men's Glee Club as well as the Select Choir. He offered me a tuition scholarship and I accepted. I was 17-years-old and pretty immature.

I started to K-State in the fall of 1962 and lived with Dr. and Mrs. McIntosh. Dr. McIntosh was a member of the Ag faculty at Kansas State and his wife Connie was a charming red haired Scotch lady. They had a beautiful home and they welcomed me to it. I had gotten to know them through Miss Blanche McLeod, a teacher at Maple Hill High School. Miss McLeod had gotten me involved in the St. Andrews Society Band and Choir at Manhattan, Kansas and Dr. and Mrs. McIntosh were members.

I definitely was not ready to be a college student. I was 17, terribly homesick, loved all of the music classes and activities but HATED having to participate in ROTC as well as having to take swimming lessons. The old Nichols Gymnasium at K-State was not heated and you could literally have ice cycles freeze in your hair after class. I was assigned to a class of mostly Eastern Indian students who hated the water and would cling to the rest of us rather than put their heads under water. Then in late November, one of my favorite people, Uncle Charlie Mitchell suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. I knew a fellow that was driving back and forth from Maple Hill to Manhattan every day and I called him and asked for a ride home. I believe Uncle Charlie was in the hospital for about a week before he passed away but it was several more days until his funeral. I felt Aunt Bonnie Mitchell needed me and she welcomed my presence through the whole illness and funeral. However, I missed nearly two weeks of classes and although I returned to K-State, I was never able to catch up. After flunking out, I returned home where my mother was able to contact friends at Southwestern Bell Telephone and get a job for me.

The Old Nichols Gymnasium at Kansas State University, often called "The Castle" where I took swimming lessons.

Although I always regretting failing at Kansas State (and I'm leaving a bequest in my will to repay the scholarship) it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because I was able to work and mature. I very much liked my work at Southwestern Bell in Topeka and my boss asked me one day if I'd like to apply for a pay telephone coin collector's job that was open in Emporia. I accepted that opportunity and moved to Emporia, where I shared an apartment with four students from Marysville, Kansas They were all great guys: Steve Boyda, Gene Houtz, and Butch Ackerman. We had great times in Emporia and I often went home with them for weekends.

There was one thing that used to bother me. Butch Ackerman caught rattlesnakes in the stones of the local lake dam in the evening. He would bring them back to the apartment and put them in a glass aquarium until morning. If I remember correctly, the science lab paid him $25 each for the snakes and he loved catching them. However the rest of us didn't like listening to them rattle all night. I was glad I was sleeping on the top bunk. Each morning I would carefully look all over the floor before I'd get down and dress. No snakes ever escaped the aquarium.

Southwestern Bell was an upwardly mobile culture, and after working our of Emporia for about 18 months, I was offered a job in Texas. I still had no intention of leaving Maple Hill, the bonds were just too tight. I quit my job, which at the time was probably a terrible mistake, but in the long term, it was the best thing that could have happened.

I returned home and looked through the job ads in the Topeka Daily Capital and noticed a counter sales position at Whelan's Lumber Company in east Topeka. I made an appointment and went for an interview with Wayne Whelan, the president. I had a resume and he asked some questions, but at the end of the interview he said, "Do you know Raymond Adams, Sr. at Maple Hill?" I said I knew him and had started to school with his daughter Ann. He said, "Do you think he would recommend you for this job?" I said, "I think so, my dad worked for his brother." He said, "You'll do and you can start tomorrow." Sometimes it isn't what you know but who you know that gets the job. I worked at Whelans from 1965 to 1972, at first full-time and then part-time after beginning at Washburn University. By the time I decided to go back to college in 1968, I had matured considerably and ready to settle into my studies and work part-time jobs to pay my way through.

White Concert Hall was opened in 1968 and thankfully suffered little damage in the disastrous tornado which destroyed many campus buildings on June 8.  This is where all of my music classes were held and where the choirs performed.   I performed in a senior voice recital here in 1971.
I was fortunate to have a good tenor voice and got a music scholarship to Washburn University of Topeka, after singing for Dr. Floyd Hedberg, chair of the choral music department. Dr. Gordon Gaines became my vocal coach and instructor. Gordon was a graduate of the Julliard School of Music and Columbia University and had performed in 40 lead roles on Broadway and in opera.

The interior of White Concert Hall, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas.

He had a big baritone voice and a jovial personality. He was a very good teacher and I excelled under his tutelage. Dr. Gaines called me one day and asked if I would like to sing for funeral services at Penwell Gable Funeral Home and Parker Funeral Home in Topeka. I had sung for lots of funerals at Maple Hill Community Congregational Church and the morbidity of the job didn't really repel me. I received $10 for each service and usually had one or two services six days each week which gave me a very good income for that time. In addition, I worked at the new Whelan's Home Center in Fairlawn Shopping Center in the afternoons and evenings after school as a counter clerk. On Sunday, I sang as a paid soloist at First Presbyterian Church in Topeka, another job Dr. Gaines helped me get. In addition to all that, I was able to carry 12 to 16 hours of college work and have a very full and fun social life. I knew my parents couldn't afford to send me to college, but I also knew that I had to have a college education to complete the goals I had set for my life. Washburn University only had 1,800 students when I went there, but it provided an excellent education that has served me well all these years. Bigger isn't always better.

This is the way First Presbyterian Church in Topeka, Kansas looked when I was tenor soloist.   It has since been greatly enlarged.   It sits directly across the street west of the Kansas State Capital building.

I will never have any regrets about being born and raised in the rural environment of a small Kansas farming community surrounded and nurtured by three generations of my family. What we need to know, isn't always learned in school it is absorbed by osmosis from grandparents, parents, friends, teachers, preachers and others who inhabited the little community of 400 where I grew up: Maple Hill, Kansas.

I have sung many tenor solos from the chancel of this sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church, with Richard Gayhart at the console of the 80-rank Mooler tracker organ, the largest in Kansas.  Richard was organist from 1947 to 1994 and also directed the choir for several periods during that time.   I have many wonderful memories of  the music and choir programs and personalities from 1969-1971.


I believe I will stop there and continue in another blog. Happy Trails!

Tim and Lucille (Corbin) Clark's Oldest Son: Nicholas L. Clark, Sr.

I love to write about everyone else's family, but I hate to write about myself.   One time, when I was director of Heritage Hill State Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I had to go before the Appropriation's Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature to ask for a $3 million increase.  One of our veteran legislators from the area, Cletus Vanderperren, gave me some sage advice:   "Give'em just the meat Nick."  I pared down my remarks by about 75% and offered just the essentials and got the increase.

I have had a wonderful life.   The sixty-seven years have just flown by and still are.  

I think it's good to have to struggle and work for what you get.   My family didn't have a lot of money, but they were all good, loving, hardworking, rural people with roots deep down in Kansas soil. I grew up in a very rural farm and ranching community, Maple Hill, Kansas.   As I look back on it, we were probably about twenty years behind the times, maybe even more, but that's not always a bad thing.

This is a map of Wabaunsee County, Kansas taken from the "History of Kansas," Nobel Prentis, 1899.   I like it because it not only shows Maple Hill, but all the other towns even though nine that are named no longer exist.  Wabaunsee County is on the northeast corner of the Flint Hills Region of Kansas, known for its beautiful blue stem pastures and fertile farms and ranches.   The little community of Snokomo is where the Clarks first settled when they moved from Indiana to Kansas in 1877 or 1878.   John Clark, Sr. and 16 members of his extended family came by covered wagon to the home of Dr. Samuel Beach, where they stayed until their log home was finished.  The Beach and Clark families had been acquaintances in Indiana.

I have seen a lot of change in my lifetime, and I suspect that my children and grandchildren will see even more.   When I was a young boy, my father worked for ranchers and so we had both horses and cars.  My children wouldn't be able to conceive of such a thing.   Now my grandchildren have battery-powered play cars they can drive. 

Change is good, but change is better if we have the opportunity to plan for it and ease into it.  That isn't always the case.   When my great great grandparents saw the sky turn black from the Great Grasshopper Plague of 1874, they didn't have a chance to plan.  But neighbors banded together to help neighbors, and they somehow survived.   When the skies turned black as the dust storms of the 1930s approached, my grandparents tacked wet sheets over the windows of their homes and tried to avoid the brown lung dust pneumonia.  But there was no time for planning, you had to rely on basic survival instincts and also the cooperation of your family, friends and neighbors.

This is a photo taken of a Kansas dust storm on April 14, 1935.


I was so fortunate to inherit those genes and they have benefited me throughout my life.   I'm sure it sounds trite, but "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."   I don't know what it feels like to be unemployed, because I was never without a job.   During my lifetime, the workforce was ever increasing and upwardly mobile.  In my profession, museum development, I was good at what I did so I was either able to apply for another job and move up, or I was recruited for a job because of my success.

This generation, and probably the next, exists in an entirely different environment. The economy has been in decline and is more than stagnant.  The workforce as we knew it, is not only downwardly mobile but is no longer present.   Millions of people have been trained in universities and technical schools for jobs that no longer exist.  Middle class workers, both blue collar and white collar, have found themselves unemployed and unable to move to new jobs.  People are struggling, but the ones that are able to survive, are the ones that have grown up watching their parents and grandparents and great grandparents never giving up and willing to put their shoulder to the plow.  What wonderful examples of how to cope with life.

This is a photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark when she was pregnant with Nicholas L. Clark, Sr. in 1944.   It's a good thing my Mother is in Heaven, because she always threatened terrible things if I ever showed this photo to anyone.  Forgive me mother!   I love it.

I was born on a cold, snowy day, November 16, 1944 at Christ's Hospital, which is today Stormont Vail Hospital, in Topeka, Kansas.  I believe that I was the first baby in my family to have been born in a hospital.   It was much more common to be born at home prior to the 1940s. 

In 1992, my mother wrote these memories of my birth on the back of my birthday card:
"Happy Birthday my first born.  I can't believe you are 48 years old, my dear, but time waits for no man---eh!!  It was a snowy day when I went to Christ's Hospital in Topeka to deliver all 9 pounds and 11 ounces of you.   Dad and I had spent the night in north Topeka, with Grandma Strong (Lucy May (Lemon) McCauley-Banta-Strong) and about 5pm I began to have labor pains.  We drove Mom and Dad's (Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin-Clark) old Chevy to the Hospital, where you were delivered by Dr. Robert Pfuetze, who would later deliver Gary Wayne and your own children Nicholas and Amy.  The nurses brought you to me and I said, "Is that my baby?   He's so big!"  You were dark complected and looked like a little papoose which is exactly what some of the nurses said.  When they would bring you to nurse, they would say, "Here's Two Ton Tony and he's hungry!"  I was in a room with a lady who had a little 5 pound boy and they called him "Cricket."  We had fun and in those days we stayed in the hospital a lot longer.   For 9 days, they wouldn't let me out of bed.  After about 4 days they let me sit up and dangle my feet over the edge of the bed.  I went home on the 12th day and Dad and I went to stay with Mom and Dad (Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin in the Adam's old stone house east of town.   Everyone came to see you and brought you nice gifts.  Bonnie and Charlie, Grandma and Grandpa Clark ( James Peter and Mable Rachel (Jones) Clark.   That Thanksgiving, I was still in the hospital and both sets of your grandparents and Dad came and brought dinner to share with me."

I really don't know why or how Mom came under the care of Topeka's first  Obstetrician, Dr. Robert Pfuetze, but she did.  The entire field of obstetrics was new and he was also new to Topeka.   He passed away in the 1980s, and I remember reading in his obituary that he delivered 30,000 babies over his career, and at least four of them were Clark's.

I weighed 9 pounds and 11 ounces---just a delicate little thing.   Both my Mom and my future wife said if they had known about the size of babies in the Clark family they might have thought twice about marrying.   My paternal aunt, Thelma Maree Clark, daughter of James Peter and Mable (Jones) Clark, weighed in at over 13 pounds and my father, John L. "Tim" Clark weighed 11 pounds and 6 ounces.   I always wondered how my Grandmother Clark was able to have them naturally.

Mom said most of the time expectant mothers could count on being in delivery rooms 12 to 36 hours before babies were born, but I was more determined!  A mere two hours after they arrived the nurses were telling Mom the baby would soon be here.  Dr. Pfuetze arrived and I was born only a few minutes later.   My parents brought me to the home of my maternal grandparents, Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin on the Franklin Adams Farm east of Maple Hill.  The large stone house sat on top a high hill about three miles east of Maple Hill.   My father, John L. "Tim" Clark was helping my Grandfather, Robert Corbin, pick about 600 acres of corn on the river bottom farm.

The stone house was already 60 years old, and Grandmother Corbin used to tell about how hard it was too keep the wood stoves "glowing" in order to keep the rooms above freezing in winter.  Grandfather Corbin cut all of the firewood from the timber along the Kansas River.  The house sat on a high hill and winter winds swept across the Kansas River Valley making it frigid in winter. 

This is the first photograph of me that I know of.   In the photo is my maternal grandmother, Mildred Mae (McCauley) Corbin holding me.   The photo was taken on the front steps of the Adams stone house east of Maple Hill.   Grandmother is wearing a short-sleeved dress and I would estimate the photo was taken in spring or summer of 1945.


Grandmother Corbin and my mother said that I had a cold soon after they brought me home and they worried about my congestion and getting pneumonia or whopping cough.   One day, my maternal Great Grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Banta-Strong and her husband Jerrod T. Strong drove out from Topeka to see me.   Grandma Strong told them they had me bundled up way too much and what I needed was fresh air.   She removed some of the blankets and took me outside, where it was sunny but about 25 degrees, and walked around for a while and then she brought me inside and mashed some canned peaches and feed me enough to provide a "tonic" effect.   Sure enough, I got better right away.   Those old pioneer mothers knew how to "make do" without a lot of help from modern medicine.

I also remember a visit to  Grandma Lucy Strong's when I was about five or six years old.   I was a skinny, sickly kid for the first five years of my life because I had terrible tonsils and was always having sore throats and colds.   Grandma Strong said what I needed was kerosene.   She went out on her back porch, got a tablespoon of kerosene from the jug, mixed it with sugar and poured it down my throat.   Well---I'm not sure it cured my cough but it didn't kill me either!


This is a photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark with son Gary Wayne on the left and Nickey Lee Clark on the right. It was taken at the farm of Robert and Mildred Corbin 1.5 miles south of Maple Hill in 1949.

I had a sort of idyllic childhood in that I had so many older family members around to help raise me and spoil me.  My maternal and paternal grandparents both lived within a few miles.  My maternal great grandmother lived 25 miles away in Topeka and my paternal step-greatgrandmother, Susanna Jeanetta (Rinehardt) Jones in Maple Hill.   We exchanged visits often.   I had one paternal aunt, Thelma Maree (Clark) Hedges who was ten years older than my father.   My mother had four siblings who were either married or working away from home.  I had Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Charlie Mitchell and many other extended family members and I was close enough to spent lots of time in all of their homes.    I was the first grandchild on my mother's side of the family, all of whom spoiled me rotten.

One of my earliest and most pleasant memories were the extended family gatherings that occurred almost every Sunday.  I believe similar get togethers were held in many rural homes at that time.   My maternal grandparents, Robert and Mildred Mae (McCauley) Corbin were actively involved in the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church.  My mother and her brother and sisters all attended Sunday School and Church there as did Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Charlie Mitchell and other extended family members.   It was the only church in the community at that time.  My maternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark, was the chief operator at the Maple Hill Central Office and her work schedule sometimes prevented her from attending.  Her husband, James P. Clark died on Christmas Eve in 1948, so she was widowed when I was four-years-old.  I don't have any memories of Grandfather Clark.  

This is a photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark and Nicholas "Nickey Lee" Clark taken in 1945 in front of the coal shed at the Corbin Farm south of Maple Hill, Kansas.  On the back of the photo is written, "Just taking his first steps."

The Corbins had Sunday dinner for the extended family every week.  Usually, my Grandmother Corbin would make chicken and dumplings, or chicken and dressing, or some main dish along with mashed potatoes and other garden vegetables (fresh in summer and canned in winter).   My mother and the other women would usually bring a dish or dessert to pass and this was a real repast.  Sometimes the minister and his family would join us and other friends might also be invited.  There would often be from 15 to 25 people for Sunday Dinner every week.   I really don't know how my Grandmother Corbin did it on a four-burner kerosene stove.   I do know that she baked bread and pies or cake on Saturday and also cleaned chickens if necessary.   She would get up early on Sunday morning and begin preparation so we could leave for church at 10:30am.

This is a photo of Mildred Mae (McCauley) and Robert Corbin at their farm south of Maple Hill.   This is the house where extended family Sunday dinners and afternoon sing alongs were held.

After the dishes were cleared, we would all go to the living room and sing.   Grandmother Corbin, her daughter Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier, my aunt Sarah Emma (Corbin) Justice, aunt Vivian (Corbin) Wild---all could play the piano and we sang for an hour or two every Sunday.   Sometimes Uncle George Corbin, his wife Freda (Kitt) Corbin and their children would come and join us at mid-afternoon.    Since I was the first grandchild, it took a while but as I was joined by other children, we would have great times playing outside.  

About 4pm, Grandfather Corbin would bring a 50# chunk of ice out of the "cave," which was really a concrete storm cellar where he had an old ice box for storing ice.    We would put the ice in a gunny sack and break it up with a sledge hammer.   Grandma Corbin would be making the raw ice cream in the kitchen, or on the back porch, and putting it in the freezer can.   Here is her recipe:

Grandmother Mildred Corbin's Ice Cream Recipe
1 quart of whipping cream
12 eggs beaten
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups of sugar
Fill the ice cream canister to within one inch of the top with milk.
Add fresh fruit or chocolate chips or crushed peppermint candy as you wish.

She did not cook the ice cream as you would today.   No one was worried about getting sick from cracked or spoiled eggs in those days.  At first the cream came from their own milk cow but when they decided to quit keeping a cow, they traded eggs for cream with Steele and Ellen (Stenstrom) Romick who were their neighbors on the south side of Mill Creek.

Then she'd bring out the canister and we'd put it in the big hand-cranked ice cream freezer and make home made ice cream.   Along with the ice cream we'd have the desserts that everyone had brought and we'd eat left overs from lunch.    Could there be a better way to spend a Sunday?

This is a photo of a 2 gallon White Mountain Ice Cream freezer that is identical to the one we made ice cream in.

We also went to my Grandmother Clark's for Sunday dinner.   In a town of 400, the telephone office was generally not so busy that Grandma couldn't operate the central office and also prepare dinner.  Both of my grandmothers were excellent cooks.   Grandmother and Grandfather Clark had a small dairy and so there was always lots of fresh butter and cream to use in cooking.   Since Grandmother Clark had a steady job and income throughout her life, we might have had a little more elaborate menu than at my Corbin grandparents, but it was all good.

I have a little folder of recipies that are all in Grandmother Clark's handwritting.   There is a little 3"x5" card taped to the front of the folder that says:  "A reciept isn't a reciept unless it has 12 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, a quart of cream and a pound of butter."  That is exactly the way Grandmother cooked.  She would have been a big fan of present-day TV food chef Paula Deen!

No one excelled at making desserts more than my paternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark.  My favorite pies were always her burnt sugar (sort of a rich butterscotch) pie and her pineapple cream pie.   Her crusts were made with Crisco lard and were the tenderest and richest I've ever experienced.   Her three-layer chocolate cakes and icings were to die for.   When there was going to be a cake walk or a cake auction, Grandmother's cakes always brought the most.

Grandmother also made ham and beans with fluffy baking soda dumplings.   They were everyone's favorite.  She would mix the egg dumplings, drop them into the boiling beans from an old table spoon and then put the lid on.   I can still hear her saying, "Now don't take the lid off for 10 minutes or they'll be ruined!"   I don't know if that was true or not but no one dared test her rule.

This photograph brings back lots of wonderful memories.   It was taken in the 1950s in the Maple Hill Central Office with my paternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark at the switchboard.  The central office was a room attached to the front of a three-room house with a screened-in back porch.  At the extreme left is the Warm Morning coal stove which heated the office.  Just a corner of the big oak partner desk is showing behind the stove.   On the floor, the big Emerson electric fan with brass blades is cooling the room.  Grandmother is holding one of the sets of plugs and beginning to complete a call.  Behind the switchboard is the switching equipment.   When there was an electrical storm in progress, no one went near the switchboard because if lightning hit a pole or line that was ungrounded, blue fire shot out everywhere.  If you look above the switchboard, you'll see a little black box on the wall with a level on the side.   That was the box that turned on the big siren that sat opposite the Central Office on a telephone pole.   If there was a fire, the siren would be sounded.   Monday through Saturday, Grandmother manually sounded the siren for one minute at noon.    There were times when I walked the two blocks from Maple Hill Grade School to have lunch with Grandmother.    I always hurried so she could lift me up to blow the siren.   She was a selfless, wonderful lady who served the community and her family and friends for 43 years.

I was always fascinated by the switchboard and learned how to operate it at a fairly young age.   Grandmother even got to the point she would trust me running the switchboard for a few minutes while she ran an errand, was cooking or doing something else.    There were a couple of cranky telephone customers who didn't like to have me answer their calls but most people didn't mind.   Every line had its own drop on the switchboard so if one of them made a call, I would just get Grandmother and have her answer and complete their calls.  

I really enjoyed taking the plug, pushing it into the drop, opening the cam and then saying, "Number Please."   The customer might tell you the person's name they wanted to call rather than their number, in which case you had to know their number.  I remember memorizing the name and number of customers from a chart Grandmother had.   There were two plugs for each call.   One plug went into the originating caller's drop and the other went into the drop being called.  When you had both plugs in place, then you'd press a button on the switchboard to make the necessary number of rings.   For instance, your number might be 1312, which mean that your ring was three longs and two short ring.  Many times, Grandmother Clark would be operating the switchboard in the central office and my brother Gary Wayne Clark and I would be sitting at the big partner desk behind the switchboard drawing pictures or playing dominoes.   Grandmother Clark loved to play dominoes.   She was also a good artist and could draw birds, and dogs and cats much to our enjoyment.   I have many of her hand-drawn patterns for birds and flowers as well as alphabet letters which she would trace on towels and pillowcases which she would embroider and then give as wedding or birthday gifts.

A photo of Nicholas and Gary Clark taken in the living room of the Robert and Mildred Corbin farmhome in about 1951.

My brother Gary Wayne Clark was born on January 26, 1947 and since there were just two of us, we were both spoiled rotten by our parents, our grandparents and our aunts and uncles.    I want to share a story here that is probably inappropriate but true.We had a cousin, Helen Butefish Shipp, who was distantly related to us through both the Butefish and Shipp families.    She was a lovely person, very kind, and effusive in her praise of people.   My maternal uncle, George S. Corbin, fought in World War II.   He was badly injured in the Burma Campaign, was sent home to recuperate at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado.  I don't know exactly how long he was there but many months.   He had been riding in a jeep when it was attacked.

Anyway, he came to his parents farm after his release and Grandmother and Grandfather Corbin cared for him until he was able to be on his own.  Soon after Gary was born, my mother brought him and me to visit Uncle George at Grandmother Corbin's.   While we were there, cousin Helen came to visit Uncle George not knowing we were there.   Helen came in and greeted grandmother and Uncle George and then she started making over Baby Gary.   "Oooooohhhh Hoooooney, you are just the sweetest, handsomest little man----and on and on."    I was in the kitchen coloring at the table and when I heard Helen come in and start making over Gary, I headed for the living room and just sort of peaked around the corner of the door.

I believe this photo was taken the same day as the one above, since we have the same clothing on.  In the background is the enclosed back porch of the Robert and Mildred Corbin farm home.   In the center background is the old gate that provided access to the fenced-in yard.  There was a chain fastened to the left gate post which went to the right upper corner of the gate.  On the chain was a big iron gear of somekind, which provided weight so that when you opened the gate, the weight of the gear pulled the gate shut.  The yard was fenced so the chickens couldn't get in and make it messy.  Hiding behind us or helping hold us up is my Aunt Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier.

Helen saw me but just kept praising Gary.   Finally she looked over and said, "Well there's Nickey Lee.   Come say hello to Cousin Helen."   What she didn't know was that my Uncle George Corbin and his brother-in-law, Uncle Rick Andrews, had been teaching me to say swear words and thought it was cute to hear me repeat them.   After Helen's greeting, I straightened up and said, "Kiss my ass."  Of course Mother and Grandmother were horrified and Uncle George was bent over in uncontrollable laughter.    After I was in high school and thereafter when Cousin Helen saw me, she would remind me of the occasion and we would both have a good laugh.


This is a photo of Maple Hill Grade School which was built in 1904 and replaced by a modern, one-story brick elementary school in 1953.    I went to first, second and third grade in this building and finished fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight grade in the new brick school.

As I remember this building, there was a large center hallway and stairs connecting the two floors.   On either side of the hallway downstairs were two rooms.   Each room had two grades.  When it was originally built, the upstairs was used as a high school.   That arrangement continued until Maple Hill grew enough in the 1920s to build a new, modern brick two-story building just north of this one, to house a high school.

I started to school in this building in 1950.   There was no kindergarten at that time, and if you were going to be six before December 31, you could start first grade when you were five.   There were two in my class that were five, Claudia Arnold and myself.  As I look back on it, I don't think it was a wise rule because I wasn't really mature enough to begin school, was also very young when I started to high school and was only 17 when I started college.   

I don't recall what the occasion for this photo was, but it was taken in 1950 on the west side of the old, two-story Maple Hill Grade School.   I believe I can identify most of the children but would appreciate you making corrections or providing the names of the unidentified in the comment section at the bottom on this blog.    Janice McClelland is standing in back and is holding Donald Kent Raine.   Second Row, L-R: Bonnie Sloan, Mary Sue Kitt, Ann Adams, Kathryn Adams, Lana Schulte and Pam Weisgarver.  Front Row, L-R:  Trudi Mee, two little blonde girls are unknown to me, next is Lana Schulte, and the little girl holding the black doll is unknown to me.

I don't remember much about the first grade, but I do remember something that happened over the summer between first and second grade---well two things.    Our first and second grade teacher was Miss Breakey.   I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly but phonically it is accurate.    Miss Breakey was a very large woman.  I suspect she may have weighed 250 pounds or more.   Over the summer, she had a new and very risky operation to remove the fat from her stomach area and band her stomack.   When I started second grade, I couldn't believe that I had the same teacher.   Today, we'd consider her stocky but she was not at all heavy set.   I thought that was some kind of miracle and of course, it kept the Maple Hill gossip mills rolling for a long time.

This phtograph was taken during the Christmas Program at the old Maple Hill Grade School in 1950.   I believe it ahs members of both the first and second grade classes, but I don't think all class members are included.   This was most likely a chorus or song number and didn't include all members of both classes.

In the back row, L-R are Pam Weisgarver, Roberta Oliver, Patty Holmes, Mary Sue Kit, Marlene Lawson, the tall girl in the back is either one of the Bland or Pamami girls, Idon't know the next girl, then another of the Bland or Pamami girls, I don't know the blond girl, and then Ann Adams.    In the front row, L-R is Nick Clark, Rosemary Knott, Larry A. Schulte, Trudi Mee and Bonnie Sloan.


Education:

Elemetary and High School
I attended Maple Hill Grade School and Maple Hill High School, Maple Hill, Kansas

High Education:
I graduated from Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas in December, 1971 with a degree in American History and Elementary Education
I graduated from the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho in May, 1979, with a Master's Degree in American History and a minor in Museum Studies.

Marriage:
I was married to Verona Shannon Little, daughter of Lawrence E. Little and Wilma A. Huelsmann-Little-Hargis at First Presbyterian Church, Topeka, Kansas on August 1, 1970 by Rev. Orlo Coughill.  My marriage ended in divorce on February 14, 2005.

Children:
Two children were born to this union:   Nicholas Leander Clark, II on May 1, 1973 and Amelia Mary Verona Clark on March 30, 1977.

Career:
I worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone for two years between 1963 and 1965.   I was first a public office assistant and then a coin telephone collector.

While attending Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas I worked several part-time jobs.   I was a tenor soloist for Penwell-Gable Funeral Home and Parker-Price Funeral Home, both in Topeka, Kansas.     I was also a counter sales clerk for Whelan Lumber Company and Whelan Home Center, Topeka, Kansas.

I taught American History, Spanish and Psychology at St. Marys High School, St. Marys, Kansas from 1973-1977.

After graduating from graudate school at the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, I was director of Heritage Hill State Park, Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1979-1983.

I was first Director of Development and then Executive Director of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford/Jacksonville, Oregon from 1983-1987.

I was Director of the Minnetrista Cultural Center and Oakhurst Gardens, Muncie, Indiana from 1987-1995.

I was Director of the Museums At Prophetstown, Battle Ground, Indiana from 1995-2000.

I was a museum cosultant from 2000 through 2003, and headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.

I was a Commission Lay Pastor at Burrow Presbyterian Church, Burrows, Indiana from June 2004 through December 2009.

I have since been retired, and currently live in Palm Springs, California.

I have been interested in my family genealogy for the past 30 years and now enjoy writing this family history blog.
I believe I'll end there and continue in another blog.   Happy Trails!