On Summer Hiatus!

I thought I'd write a little today just to let you know that I'm okay----I'm just on summer hiatus.

I've been doing a lot of traveling and haven't had time to do much blog writing.    I just returned from a trip to Kansas, where I attended my 50th High School Reunion at Maple Hill High School.   There were ten in my graduating class and eight of us were present.   It was great to see everyone again.   The other two are alive and well, but live in Ohio and Connecticut and distance prevented them from making the trip.   Go Cowboys and Cowgirls!!!

I'm going to be leaving on July 4th and taking my first river cruise on The Danube, followed by a visit to Mallorca.   I've never seen or experienced the Danube so I'm looking forward to that.   I have visited Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranian.    I liked it very much in 1975---now we'll see what has changed.    I'll return to Palm Springs on July 18th and perhaps then, I'll have the time to resume writing.

I had a fun trip to the San Diego Zoo this past weekend.   The giant pandas were great!!  If you've never been to the SDZ, I highly recommend it.   In addition, temperatures were in the 70s in San Diego while they were 110 in Palm Springs---what a difference two hours makes.

A giant panda enjoys a lunch of bamboo shoots in the San Diego Zoo.




I hope this post finds you all well.   Happy Trails!

The Good Ol' Summertime

I now live in Palm Springs, California and every day, the temperature climbs above 100 degrees during the summer.   Temperatures on a normal day between June and September can be 100 to 120 degrees.  When the winds blow, there are often sand storms that create drifts of sand along our streets.  Sometimes, the streets are even closed if the winds get to high.    We normally get about 3" of rain every year and when we do get a thunderstorm, which is fairly uncommon, lightening strikes dry vegetation hanging from palm trees and sets them on fire.   It is a very strange site to see five or six or seven palm trees burning during a thunderstorm!

This is a view of the pool at our complex.    You can see the tall palms in the background.   Sun warms the pool water to about 90-95 degrees in the summer months and electric heat keeps it at 85-90 during the rest of the year.   You expect heat in the desert and that's why most of us live here.  From October through May, the weather is very pleasant.   Daytime highs are normally 70-80 degrees while the evenings cool off into the 50s and 60s.    We seldom have any humidity in the air in Palm Springs, unless we are having a rare flow inland from the Pacific Ocean, which may result in a little drizzle.   Fortunately, there is a huge underground aquifer underneath Palm Springs.   Our Cochella Valley has about 500,000 residents and scientists tell us that we have enough water for 300 years, even with projected growth in population.   Otherwise, the 93 golf courses would be in trouble!

I dare say we could not live without air conditioning.   I was reminded of that yesterday when mine failed.   The temperature in the apartment quickly climbed until it was oppressive.  Luckily it has been restored and it is comfortable again today.

I spent the first thirty years of my life in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.    My family did not have air conditioning when I was growing up.   During June, July, August and early September, the temperatures would often be in the mid to upper 90s and sometimes even top 100 degrees.    In Kansas, we could usually count on very high humidity and wind.   There weren't many times when the air was dry and there was no breeze.   Today everyone has air conditioning and we would suffer greatly without it.

I wasn't born until 1944 and I don't remember having any stretches of intolerably hot weather as my parents and grandparents endured during the 1930s.   This is a quote from the National Weather Service Website:  "Nearly every year in the 1930s was below normal on rainfall, especially during the growing season. Combined with record-setting heat, this produced what is known as the "Dust Bowl Days." Numerous high temperature records, many of which still stand, were set in the mid-1930s. The highest temperature ever recorded in Topeka of 114 degrees occurred on July 24, 1936. Also during that year, the maximum number of 100 degree or greater days, 59, also occurred. The drought and extreme unrelenting heat took its toll on both humans and animals."

My home community, Maple Hill, Kansas, was just 25 miles west of Topeka, so it's easy to see that they suffered mightily from the heat and drought.   I never remember a time when our family didn't have electric fans to help cool us.   But I remember all of my maternal grandparents, Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin and my parents, John L. "Tim" and Lucille (Corbin) Clark, and many of my aunts and uncles and others talking about how torturous it was to live through those times.

This 1935 photograph shows a dust storm approaching.   I don't think Maple Hill ever had anything this severe, but I remember my grandparents and mother talking about having dust so bad that they had to wet sheets and hang them over windows to prevent the dust from coming into the house.   There were many cases of death and illness related to dust storms.   One could get "dust pneumonia" from breathing too much dirt into your lungs.   The temperatures were so hot that it was impossible to close windows and the wind blew so hard that the dust found its way into homes through the smallest cracks in siding and around windows and doors.   There was no way to escape it.

My paternal grandparents, James P. and Mable R. (Jones) Clark, had a big Emerson Electric Fan with a black cast iron body and brass blades.   I remember it well because my grandmother was still using it well into the 1950s.   I wish I knew where it was today because I'll bet it is still working.   They got it in the late 1920s.   My grandmother was the chief operator at the Maple Hill Central Office (telephone exchange) and the United Telephone Company bought the fan to keep the business off cool.   Operators had to sit at the switchboard and needed air movement.   Electric fans were not common in rural homes until the 1940s.

During the 1930s, my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, was a teenager.   She remembered well how the heat and dust affected her family's life.   She said that it would be stiflingly hot in any upstairs, especially if there was not breeze.   Her mother and maternal grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Banta-Strong made comforters during the winter.   They would take wool fabric, place old clothing or batting in between the layers of fabric, and then take yarn and tie the two pieces together making knots every six or eight inches.    These were taken outside onto porches or just laid on the ground and used for "pallets."    Adults and children slept outside under the stars to keep cool.   They really thought nothing of it because everyone was doing the same thing.

Ice was at a premium during that time.   Few people had refrigerators because few people in rural areas had electricity until the Rural Electrification Administration Act of 1935 began to bring electricity to the farms of America.   Most farms had electricity by the end of World War II in 1946.   I checked the "Maple Hill News Items" and found that the reporter had noted on June 30, 1922 that "Maple Hill is really enjoying our new electric lights."   So houses in town had electric power much earlier than in the country.

Moundview Farm, built by Sen. W. W. Cocks three miles west of Maple Hill, Kansas.  The acetylene gas tank was in the basement of the house.

Before that, most of the houses were lighted with kerosene lamps, with acetylene gas lamps and Rayo lamps using gasoline under pressure.   The old stone house we lived in three miles west of Maple Hill, had been built in 1893 by Sen. W. W. Cocks of Long Island, New York.   It was equipped from the beginning with acetylene gas lamps and the fixtures were still on every wall when we moved into the home in 1973.  There was usually a tank located in the basement where chemicals were combined to "make" acetylene gas.   These could be quite dangerous and could explode and cause many problems.

One way people and children kept cool was by going to the ol' swimming hole.   Mill Creek was located about 1.5 miles south of Maple Hill, and unless it was not running because of drought, provided some relief.    I can remember going to the big, deep "hole" located under the Highway 30 bridge over Mill Creek and going swimming a few times with friends.   My father, John L. "Tim" Clark and his friends used to go often and in addition to swimming, my father developed a real fondness for what he called "hand fishing."   He would swim under water and feel along the banks for holes or dens where big catfish lived.   He would come up for air, go down again, and catch them by the gills and pull them out of their holes.   Some of these fish could be 30 or 40 pounds and not easily landed, but Dad seemed to know how to do it.    Of course, this kind of fishing later became illegal and he quit doing it.  

The riffles just to the east of the deep hole under the Mill Creek highway bridge were also a good place to play and splash.   In my lifetime, I'm quite sure no one was baptized in those riffles, but within the last ten years, Rev. Andrew McHenry baptized many of the congregation there.    About the first or second time I went swimming in the Mill Creek hole, a great big water snake joined me and that was enough to scare me away from the creek.   We didn't have any poisonous water snakes in eastern Kansas, but I really didn't care.   They were big and looked ominous and I didn't want to share my swimming with them.

Writing about Mill Creek and being in the water, reminded me of how my father and his father, James P. Clark, used to break their horses.   Both were considered very good horsemen and my grandfather bought and sold horses for many decades.    Dad always said it was the "Indian" way of breaking the horse.   He would lead the unbroken horse into Mill Creek, and after it was swimming he would get on its back and just swim the horse and swim it until it was exhausted.   Then he would remain on the horse's back and walk it out of the creek.   He would stay on and continue to ride the horse bare back until the horse was used to him and most of the time the horse would never buck.   Then he'd get the horse used to having the saddle on its back and to having the since cords under it's stomach and walla---within a week the horse would be gentle and accept the saddle and rider without any resistance.

Water snakes were scary critters but not poisonous.    I think I've prattled on for enough today.       Hope you're having a good day and not suffering from heat!    Happy Trails!

Love Those Flint Hills of Kansas Along with their Native Plants

Is there anything more beautiful in spring, than the lush, green, rolling Flint Hills of Kansas?

I grew up in the northeast corner of the Flint Hills, known for their native grass pastures, dotted with cattle.    I haven't lived in the Flint Hills of Wabaunsee County, Kansas for nearly 40 years, but I think of them as "home."   Since leaving Kansas in 1978, I've lived in Idaho, Wisconsin, Oregon, Indiana, Texas and California, and as a native Jayhawker I'm usually either teased about Dorothy and Toto or about how  the individual hated driving across flat, dull, Kansas on their way too or from the Rocky Mountains.

I can agree with the flat part, if you're thinking about the western half of the state, but how could anyone say that about Eastern Kansas.   In fact, I was raised at Maple Hill, Kansas which is with in sight of Buffalo Mound, one of the tallest hills in Kansas at 1,269 ft above sea level (isn't Google wonderful!!)

I took this photograph of Buffalo Mound looking southeast across the pastures of the Imthurn Cattle Company.   There is nothing more beautiful than Flint Hills pastures in June when the grasses are at their greenest and the wildflowers are coming into bloom.

In my youth, I climbed Buffalo Mound many times, along with half the population of Maple Hill.  I've fished the pond in the Adams pasture on the east side of Buffalo Mound, where  Warner and Emma Jean Adams and I spend happy hours catching bass and bull heads, which Emma Jeanne prepared delectibly.

The wild strawberry plant looks just like the tame varieties, but the berries are much smaller and a great deal sweeter.   Perhaps that is because you don't pick them until they have reached ripeness on the vine.
  

When my wife and I were first married, we picked wild strawberries in the Adams pasture with Emma Jeanne Adams.   Wild strawberries are very small compared to tame berries but their taste is so sweet and succulent there's no comparison to what you buy in the grocery store today.   We were picking strawberries and I heard a shriek from my wife who announced, "A rattle snake just went between my legs!"    That was our last trip to pick wild strawberries, but they were plentiful and good on the slopes of Buffalo Mound.

Mill Creek, the largest stream in Wabaunsee County, and runs along the north base of Buffalo Mound.  The stream is so beautiful because it drains most of the county's pastureland and rainwater is filtered through the native grasses.  Col. John C. Fremont camped on top Buffalo Mound when his expedition crossed what later became Buffalo Mound in 1842.    Pioneers reported for many years that a large mound of stones, erected to hold Fremont's American flag, was visible until the early 1900s.  

We don't think of otters playing in Mill Creek today, but Fremont reported that the resident Native Americans (probably the Kanza) called the stream "otter creek" because there was so many of these long, brown sleek animals playing along the stream banks.

One of my favorite past times when visiting "home" is to take long drives through Wabaunsee County and enjoy the dirt roads, verdant vistas and many wildflowers.    My mother was pleased, as I am, that Wabaunsee County has banned wind turbines for the production of electric power.    Living near many wind farms in California, I now know how they forever change the landscape.  You could never enjoy the vista below if it was dotted with wild turbines instead of cattle.

This is a photo of "Old #10" which passes through Maple Hill Township.  The photo is taken about 5 miles west of Maple Hill.   If you were to follow the road east, it would take you right into the town of Maple Hill.   It is one of the many dirt and gravel roads which are endangered and thought to be unnecessary in these days when governments want to cut costs and travelers want paved roads.    My paternal grandfather, James Peter "Jim Pete" Clark used to maintain Old #10 in Maple Hill Township with his big four horse hitch of Percheron draft horses.   The picture below was taken around 1915 when he owned and operated the Maple Hill Livery Stable on Main Street.   Visible at the left-hand corner of the photo, is the front porch of the Maple Hill Central Office where my paternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark was the chief operator from 1914 to 1958.  The stone building in the background is the blacksmith shop of the Turnbulls.

Native grasses first attracted ranchers to Wabaunsee County, Kansas and the entire Flint Hills Region (which includes a strip across the entire state from north to south) during the 1860s and 1870s.    William Pierce, a gentleman rancher from Boston, Massachusetts, his acquaintance Frederick R. Raymond, Kansas City packing company owner George Fowler, Scotsman William J. Tod, Sen. Frederick Jackson, the Dura and William Warren families, and many others were attracted to the native grass areas of the Mill Creek Valley in Maple Hill Township during the early 1870s.  Native grasses were abundant and so nutritious.   Cattle gained weight fast when pastured on native grasses, and for that reason, ranching became the predominant industry early in the area.

There are four primary native grasses in our pastures:  long stem blue stem, short stem blue stem, Indian grass and side oats gramma.    Native Americans called the long stem blue stem "turkey foot" because it's seed head resembles a turkey foot.   Here's a photo which will illustrate their reasoning.   The photo also includes native yellow cone flower, a form of echinacea.  

Long Stem Blue stem Grass with "turkey foot" seed heads.   Also visible are many yellow coneflowers, part of the echinacea family.

I took this photo in mid-July when there are beautiful summer native flowers.   In addition to the grasses, botanists have identified over 500 other forbs in Kansas prairie growths.

As a youth, I remember Wanda (Mrs. Arthur) Adams spending much of her time on the Saturday before the Old Stone Church Memorial Day Services, going through the Adam's pastures and gathering wildflowers.   She would then put them in old-fashioned baskets and vases and bring them inside putting one bouquet in each of the big gothic windows.

Snow on the Mountain was another favorite.   These native plants with beautiful white and green variegated leaves and flowers are suitable for cutting and make really nice bouquets all by themselves.  Native Americans ate the young tender leaves as a green before the flowers set on and the leaves also had an important medical use.   When dried and used as you would tea leaves, steeping them in hot water, the plant was known to be very effective in the treatment of gout and arthritis. 

Gayfeather was another prairie native flower that I have always enjoyed in the pastures.   It is another of the plants that can be easily grown in your home flower garden and is long lasting in floral arrangements.   Gayfeather also had important medicinal uses.  The bitter-tasting decoction of the tuberous root was used topically for sore throats, and internally as a diuretic to cleanse the lymph and move metabolic wastes. The plant contains coumarin which enhances the circulation and increases anti-coagulant activity.    All of these wildflowers had important reasons to be cultivated.    Did you ever wonderful why Native Americans burned the prairie grass in late October and early November, instead of when we burn it in the spring?   The reason was to promote the continued growth and health of forbs (herbs and wildflowers.)   Forbs provided much of the Native People's food and all of their medicines.    They were important to sustain.    When you burn grasses in the spring, it is intended to get rid of many of the forbs and promote the health of grasses.

The common Milkweed really isn't very pretty.   It can't be cut and used in floral arrangements.   It has a white milky substance that is poisonous if ingested and is very sticky.   It spreads easily when its fluffy white seeds are blown across the countryside.   It is treated as a common pest when it comes up in cultivated fields.   But the milkweed was one of the most important native plants of any the Native Americans made use of.    Without the milk weed, Native People would not have been able to weave the fine bags in which they kept their dried meats and other foods.   Finely woven bags of milkweed fiber also held their seeds for next year's planting.   Often times the nets and sanes that they made were woven from milk weed fibre.   Many examples of these bags and weavings have been found in prehistoric and historic collections and traditional Native People are still weaving them.   I learned how to do it myself.  The leaves are stripped away from the long stems, the bark is carefully removed, and within are long, strong white fibers that are as long was the stem of the plant.   These fibers are dried and the ends are rolled on top your leg to join the fibers together to make fine, long lengths of silky fiber.

Teas made using Milkweed leaves were used as a diuretic but the latex-like substance milkweeds produce is poisonous to animals and humans when used in excess so it is not generally used as a medicinal plant.   Early European explorers in Kansas reported that the Native Americans used the latex substance produced by Milkweed as a natural remedy for sunburn.   Native Americans also lined the soft doe or rabbit skin diapers they used on their babies with the white fluffy seeds from Milkweed.

How many of you remember gathering the silky milkweed pods during World War II so that the white fibers could be used as insulating lining for jackets, coats and sleeping bags by the US Military?    Milkweed fiber was much prized and it was patriotic duty to collect and donate it.

Last but not least, the white substance produced by milkweed plans actually does contain 1% to 2% latex, just like the latex used in rubber.    Milkweed is grown commercially in Germany and other countries specifically for it's latex.

There aren't very many areas where you can still find fences with hedge posts anymore.   Hedge posts were used in Maple Hill Township by the 1870s and were the primary fence building post from the 1890s through the 1940s.    The posts were resistant to the burning that occurred each spring but would eventually catch fire if dry enough.  Hedge wood was very dense and fence staples pounded into hedge were there to stay!!  Stone posts never caught on in eastern Kansas as they did in the western part of the state.   Today, mostly metal posts are used.

I won't go on and on but I do want to mention the native sunflowers that are so abundant in Kansas.  I took this photograph along Old Number #10 in western Maple Hill Township.    I grew up hearing my maternal great grandmother, Lucy (Lemon) Mccauley-Banta-Strong telling me and showing me how the amber-colored sap of the native sunflower can be chewed and used as gum.   Grandmother would turn the leaf over where it joins the stem, press her fingernail into the soft area, and would wait for the sap to ooze out.   She would then put it in her mouth and chew on it.    We naturally did the same thing.   It wasn't as good as gum because it didn't have the mint flavor, but to pioneer children, it was something they could use as chewing gum.

Sunflowers are absolutely essential to our good health.    We know that sunflower oil is very healthy for cooking.   We also know that sunflower seeds are a low-fat containing only 48 calories per ounce.  Native Americans used the tea of the flowers for lung ailments, malaria. Leaf tea was used for high fevers.  A poultice of roots was applied to snakebites and spider bites. Seeds and leaves are diuretic and expectorant. Sunflower seeds contain all the important nutrients that benefit the eyes and relieve constipation.  Sunflower seeds are extremely high in iron content, higher than liver! Sunflower tea is useful against dysentery, inflammations of the bladder and kidney. The leaves are astringent and used in herbal tobaccos.

Sunflowers were absolutely essential to the Native American diet.   Native Peoples collected the sunflower seeds, hulled them and then either pulverized them into flour for high protein cakes, or ate them raw and roasted.   Along with cattail pollen, the sunflower flour provided almost all of the Native's breads.   They would mix the sunflower flour with animal fat or grease and if sweetness was desired, a little honey and these "energy cakes" would last for weeks without spoiling.

Here's something you probably didn't know.   Sunflowers absorb toxins from the soil.   After the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Russia, as much of the ground as could be cultivated was planted to sunflowers.   The plants were said to absorb the nuclear waste through the roots and into their stems and leaves.   The plants were then burned and the nuclear waste was collected.

We need to be more careful about what we call "weeds."   God put them here for a purpose!

I'm sure many of my readers are saying, "There he goes again!   He began talking about the beauty of native pastures and ended up talking about the Chernobyl Disaster."    Well, so be it!   That's just the direction my thought processes took me on today.

I am thankful for grandparents and parents who taught me to understand and respect native plants of all kinds.

Happy trails!

The Children of John L. "Tim" and Lucille (Corbin) Clark: The Twins - Steven and Stanley Clark

I'm sure my mother and father thought the time of rearing children had passed for them, but in June 1954, my mother announced to our family that we were going to have a brother or sister.   I was born in 1944 and my brother Gary in 1947, so a number of years had passed.

My mother always said "No baby is an accident."   She thought it was awful when people said that, particularly in the years after the child was born when a statement like that could cause a lot of harm psychologically.    But my mother never looked back, she always hoped for the best and didn't think about anything else.

Lucille and Tim Clark were both 39.   Mother seemed to have a normal pregnancy.    She went to Dr. Orval Smith in St. Marys for her prenatal care, such as it was in those days.   She had gained 50 pounds when she was pregnant with me, and she gained 54 pounds with her third pregnancy, so she didn't think too much about it.   I weighed 9 pounds and 10 ounces and each of the twins weighed over 6 pounds at birth, so it didn't seem too much different, except for the mass.   She knew this baby was a lot bigger than any she'd had previously but Dr. Smith told her that he only heard one heartbeat.

My brother Gary Wayne and I were hoping for a sister.    We talked about a sister and planned for a sister but sometimes we don't get what we want.    Gary Wayne Clark was born on January 26, 1947 and even though my Mom was miserable and mostly resting as much as she could, she made a big chocolate cake for Gary's birthday.   That evening, Grandmother Mable (Jones) Clark, Grandmother and Grandfather Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin, and cousins Charlie and Bonnie Mitchell came for supper and we had a good time.  Aunt Sarah (Corbin) and Uncle Leslie Justice dropped for cake as did Aunt Vivian (Corbin) and Uncle George Wild.    We went to bed about 10pm and I don't remember hearing a sound during the night, but my mom awakened by dad about midnight and told him that she was in labor.

They telephoned Grandmother Corbin who came and they left for the hospital in Wamego, Kansas.  The next morning, Gary and I awakened and Grandmother Corbin fixed breakfast and told us that mom and dad had gone to the hospital and we would soon hear about our new little sister.   By then, our enthusiasm for a little girl had become infectious and we all believed it would be a girl.

Shortly before we left for school, the telephone rang and it was my Dad.   Gary and I listened to the conversation and hear Grandmother Corbin use a lot of words for shock and surprise---but she held the phone receiver down and said, "Your Dad wants to talk to you."    Gary and I walked over to the phone and could hear him say, "Boys, guess what we have."   Gary and I both shouted "A sister" into the phone but Dad said, "No sister but you have twin brothers, Steve and Stan."    Our disappointment lasted about two seconds since having twin boys was going to be lots of fun in future years.

The twins surprised Dr. Smith and my parents.   No one had expected twins.   So my grandmothers and Aunt Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell all joined together and started finding an addition crib, clothing and supplies that would be needed----including an additional 48 cloth diapers.   Disposable diapers were not yet being commonly used in 1959.    These ladies had already planned to repaper my parents bedroom and do some painting while they were gone, and they did that work in addition.  So seven days after their birth, they arrived at their new home in Maple Hill.    Gary and I were amazed at how much attention twins brought to our family.   It seemed the house was always full of family and friends.  My mom distributed all the family pictures that were pertinent to her four sons, so I don't have many photos of Steve and Stan Clark as children, but I'll share what I have in this blog.

This is a photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark with twin sons Stanley J. (left) and Steven K. (right) Clark in our living room in Maple Hill, summer, 1955.

L-R:  Mable R. (Jones) Clark, Stanley J. Clark, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, and Steven K. Clark taken in the back yard at the Maple Hill Central Office, Maple Hill Kansas.    It would also appear this photo was taken in summer, 1955.   Seeing the propane tank in the background reminds me of how happy Grandmother was when she didn't have to build coal fires every morning in the heating and cook stoves.   I believe the telephone company installed propane in about 1952 or 1953.

This is a photo of Susanna Jeanetta (Rinehardt) Jones, second wife of Leander Emory Jones and step-great grandmother to Stanley J. and Steven K. Clark.   We always called her Grandma Jones and she lived just one house from us, and gave our family the two lots in 1959 on which to locate our new home.    She had terrible diabetes and lost her leg to the disease.   She had an artificial leg and got around fairly well.   She always had peppermint candies on her kitchen table and was very good to our family.

This is the earliest photo of the twins I have.   It was taken when they were about three months old in 1955.   Stanley J. is on the left and Steven K. is on the right.   They were very happy little babies and mother always made little "curls" on top their heads.

This is a photo of John L. "Tim" Clark with twin sons Steven K. on the left and Stanley J. Clark on the right.   It was taken in summer, 1955 at the back porch of the Maple Hill Central Office, Maple Hill, Kansas.   My dad was always so proud of the twins.   They turned out to be carbon copies of my dad, loving to play sports and fish and hunt.    They still do.

Steve and Stan Clark grew up in Maple Hill, Kansas and attended Maple Hill Grade School.   By the time they started to high school, Maple Hill had closed its high school and consolidated with Alma so they graduated from Wabaunsee High School at Alma, Kansas.    Steve and Stan were both outstanding athletes and played all sports as well as playing ball on summer teams at Maple Hill.  Since I was 10 years older, I remember going to their basketball games after I was married and living in Maple Hill.    Again, I don't have many photos of the twins in their school years, but I'll share them here.

These are all photos of Steven K. Clark.   The upper left is his third grade photo.   The upper right is his fifth grade photo and the photo opposite is his 8th grade photo.   So far I haven't "unearthed" photos of Stanley J. Clark in pictures given to me by my Mom and Grandmothers, but I will keep looking and add them if I find them.

This photograph was taken in 1982.   L-R standing are Nicholas L. Clark, Steven K. Clark, Gary Wayne Clark and Stanley J. Clark.   L-R are Nicholas L. Clark, II, Mable R. (Jones) Clark and Amelia M.V. "Amy" (Clark) Allendorf.    The photo was taken at the 40th wedding anniversary for Lucille (Corbin) and John L. "Tim" Clark.

Steven K. Clark, was married to Brenda (Harris) Clark on September 15, 1982 in Topeka, Kansas.  The photo above is of Steven's family.   L-R in the back row are:  Nicholas L. Clark, Sr. holding daughter Amelia M. V. "Amy" Clark, Verona S. (Little) Clark, John L. "Tim" Clark, Brenda (Harris) Clark, Steven K. Clark, Terry (O'Dell) Clark, Gary W. Clark, Judy (Henderson) Clark and Stanley J. Clark.   L-R in the front row are:  Nicholas L. Clark, II, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, Mildred M. (McCauley) Corbin-Clark, and Mable R. (Jones) Clark.

Steven and Brenda have lived most of their married life in Topeka, Kansas where Steve was employed by Cormery-O'Niel Veterans Administration Medical Center.    Steve retired from the VA Hospsital in 2010 with over 30 years of service.    Brenda (Harris) Clark is a very talented artist and worked in several mediums.   Professionally, she has been an administrative assistant.

Steven and Brenda are the parents of two children:   Timothy John Clark born October 30, 1983 and Katy Lynn Clark born June 13, 1987, both in Topeka, Kansas.   From the beginning, Timothy John has been called T. J.    T. J. graduated from Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas where he was active in music and theater.   He is now a pharmacy assistant at Comery-O'Niel VA Medical Center in Topeka.

This photograph was taken in 2001.   L-R are:  Katy Lynn Clark, Steven K. Clark, Timothy John "T.J." Clark and Brenda (Harris) Clark

Katy Lynn Clark also graduated from Highland Park High School in Topeka.   Katy was active in sports and enjoyed playing soccer.  Katy and Josh Ray (born November 8, 1983) are the parents of Noah Porter Ray (born February 26, 2011) and live in Topeka, Kansas. L-R are Katy Lynn, Noah and Josh Ray.

Stanley J. Clark was married to Karen Cochran on March 9, 1985 in Topeka, Kansas.   Karen is the daughter of Clayton and Norma Cochran and has spent all of her life in Shawnee County, Kansas.   Stan and Karen are the parents of a son, Joshua James Clark, who was born on August 30, 1985 at Topeka, Kansas.    Stan is employed by Cormery-O'Neil Veterans Administration Medical Center in Topeka, Kansas and Karen is employed by the State of Kansas and works in the Secretary of State's office.

This photo was taken at Gary Clark's home in Maple Hill, Kansas on Thanksgiving Day, 2002.

L-R are:  Josh Clark, Steve Clark, Katy Clark, Brenda Clark, Stan Clark, Lucille Clark, Gary Clark, Karen Clark, T. J. Clark, and Nick Clark.

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!