Clara's Story
In her own words...
When I was born, it was right at midnight on October 21st or 22nd of 1926,
nobody can remember which. Our house sat on a hill a short distance from
Yockanookany River, just outside the "city" limits of Ethel, Mississippi.
Not everyone in the family had been completely thrilled about the
impending birth of yet another sibling. Looking up from her paper dolls,
Ludie said to Mama, "Mama, I think you have had enough babies!" Although
Mama had given her "the look" and a strong rebuke, Ludie's concern was not
eased. About three months later, Ludie's second grade teacher said to her,
"Ludie Ray, I hear you have a new baby sister at your house. Why didn't
you tell me?" Ludie replied, "Well, I didn't think Mama and Papa wanted it
known." I’m not sure if it's really true, but Ludie Ray has always told me
that when I arrived, she was the first to want to hold me! Ludie had just
turned eight in the spring of 1926.
Around 1930, Papa bought what was known as the Thornell house, closer into
town. This house sat on the corner of what is now known as Dodd and Hannah
Streets, with the Presbyterian Church next door, then the Lane's House,
Allen Chevrolet, and Carrie T. Allen's House. Braswell Allen was about
Robert's age and would often come down to play with him. Robert was eight
years old in 1930. I was four. On one occasion, they amused themselves by
throwing broken limbs from the huge chinaberry tree high into the sky.
Unfortunately, I got in the way and a limb fell on top of my head. Blood
gushed everywhere, but obviously, I lived; no doctor, Mama could work
wonders. I do, however, still have a dent there.
The Crostwaites lived on the other side of our house. When Frank came
home from college, I would find every excuse to go over, prompting him to
give me a new name--Worry Wart. We were sad when they moved to Drew.
The Harris family lived next door to the Crostwaites. They had grown-up
daughters there, as well as a large dog. One day, when I was about seven or eight,
I had just opened their front gate to deliver circulars (one of my first
jobs), when the dog came running toward me. I dropped all the circulars
and as I bent over to pick them up, the dog ran back of me and bit me.
This prompted Raymond Lane (Zula's friend) who lived on down the street,
to inquire as to just where the dog had bitten me. Without missing a
beat, my reply to him was, "Between our house and Mr. Harris'.
My next encounter with a dog happened when Mama sent me to Brantley's
Grocery to buy oil sausage. (Oil sausage was cut in links and stored in
huge cans of oil.) Heading home with my sack full of oil sausage, I
soon realized that a dog was following me. I began to walk faster, but
the faster I walked, the faster the dog came until we were both running,
and I was screaming so loud everyone in town heard me. Folks all over
town ran out to see if they could help. It never occurred to me that the
dog was after the sausage and not me; but anyway, I would not let go of
the sausage and finally made it home, scared to death, but unharmed.
By this time,
Everette, Edward, Grady and Lillian were gone from home, living their
own lives and in the process of starting their own families. I missed
them terribly and relished their sporadic visits home. Some of my best
memories are of the times Everette and Grace would come from Doddsville,
with all seven of their children (three of whom were older than I). We
had pallets all over the house and it was such fun.
We lived in (the Thornell) house until I was about nine, when Papa
bought a home on the opposite end of the main business street of Ethel.
This was quite a large house with considerable land around it. It was
bordered by what is now known as Kings Road and Mill Road. Most of my
memories of Ethel are from the years when we lived there, especially
times spent with family and friends on the wrap-around front porch where
there were at least six big white rocking chairs.
I left Ethel in the spring of 1943, when I was just 16 1/2 years old, to
attend Holmes Junior College for six weeks. Then I worked at the Bank of
Batesville, MS for about two months, where Ludie had gotten me a summer
job. Later that fall, I entered Blue Mountain College where Jewell and I
were students for two years. The college was located in Blue Mountain,
Ms., less than forty miles from the Tennessee state line and over a
hundred miles from Ethel.
During the spring of my sophomore year (1944 or 1945?), recruiters for
Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga came to Blue Mountain. I took
their little test, and they offered me a job as Cartographic Engineering
Aide (they were in charge of drawing war maps). I accepted their offer
and in June, 1945 traveled to Chattanooga by train, where I worked for the
TVA for six months drawing maps. Fortunately for everyone, the war was over
in a few months, as I was not very good at cartography. However, my
husband says he's certain he came across one of my maps in the Philippines,
and got totally lost.
By the end of the year, I had decided that cartography was not for me and
accepted a job as secretary at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga was a great place to be during that time, and I have wonderful
memories of my friends there.
In September of 1947 I took a job with Motor Vehicle Comptroller in
Jackson, Mississippi. Just a month later, I met Edward Bradley Childress,
who would become my husband. We were married on July 30th, 1949, at First
Baptist Church in Jackson. He had
graduated from Ole Miss in May, 1940, worked for International Harvester
just five months when he was caught up in the first draft of WWII, receiving his
draft notice in the fall of 1940, and entered the Army in January 1941 (supposedly for 1 year, but then
Pearl Harbor changed all that). After the initial indoctrination, training, etc., he was assigned to
Patton's Outfit at Fort Benning, GA. Seeing that he had worked for
International Harvester (about five months), his commander said, have we
got a job for you! He was assigned as a tank driver, and was resigned to
going to Europe with Patton's Second Armored Division (They were mostly
wiped out).
Just two weeks before they were to depart, B' received
orders to go to Officer Training School at Fort Knox, Ky. Had that not
happened, I'm sure all our lives would have been different, especially
his!! After several assignments in the U.S., he was assigned to the
1289th Engineer Combat Battalion and sent to the South Pacific (various islands). His battalion was then sent to the Phillipines where they
awaited orders to invade Japan. When the Atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, that changed their mission to one of occupying Japan. His
unit was the first to enter Japan for the occupation. He remained in
Japan, as a Warrant Officer, until his discharge in January, 1946.
At that time (1949), Field Representatives for Motor Vehicle Comptroller were
moved once yearly, in September. I gave up my job in Jackson and moved
with him to Vicksburg, then to Greenville and back to Vicksburg, where our
first child, Edward Bradley Childress, Jr., was born on Christmas Eve,
1951. B. was then transferred to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a year,
then back to Vicksburg, where Brad and I survived the great tornado of
December, 1953. The storm came right down the business district. Brad and
I were shopping on 3rd floor of Valley Department Store. Although glass
flew everywhere and the walls and floors shook as if they would crumble at
any minute, they held and we were able to make our way in the dark down
glass covered floors and stairs to my car, which had not been in the path
of the tornado.
After one more year on the Gulf Coast, we were back in Vicksburg, where our
daughter, Rebecca Claire, was born on January 7, 1956. In April of that
year, we decided to settle permanently on the Gulf Coast, where we have
lived ever since.
In April 1991, I retired after 28+ years of civilian service at Keesler
Air Force Base. I was fortunate to have two wonderful jobs while there--
working 10 years as secretary to the Civilian Personnel; 18 years in the
Command Section. I was secretary for five different Commanders of
Keesler, all of whom were Major Generals at the time, and three later
became Lieutenant Generals.
I was honored on retirement with a beautiful dinner attended by 185
friends from Keesler and the local community. Lovely presentations were
made by different groups, and the 502nd Air Force Band, which was then
located at Keesler, provided music from the 40's. It was a great way to
end my time at Keesler.
_______________________________________________________________________
Various remembrances:
I do know that Papa rode on on horseback for many miles (I think December
0f 1900) to Kosciusko for marriage license. Since he was underage, the
County Clerk sent him back those many miles through the countryside, to
get permission from his father. I have a copy of an article from Attala
County Herald showing Papa pointing to his father's note and the marriage
license.
In their first year of marriage, Papa earned just $50.00. In
addition to being a farmer, in later years he sold Singer Sewing
Machines, was elected County Tax Assessor, became Postmaster of Ethel,
then ran the one-man bank of Ethel (when we were teenagers, Jewell and I
would alternate months helping Papa in the bank after school. We posted
the old fashioned ledger books and earned 25 cents an hour.)
During
those times too, Papa bought and sold land. He loved to hang around the
Walthall Hotel in Jackson, and talk to the politicians (He was a good friend
of former Governor J. P. Coleman, from Ackerman). I remember once,
while talking to folks there, he made a deal to help a man sell a
considerable plot of timber land in central Mississippi. He found a buyer, and made five or maybe ten thousand dollars for himself. (Big money in
those days!)
Papa and Mama were wonderful parents. Mama was a typical housewife of those
times--she kept things going--made the fires on those cold mornings,
milked the cows, grew the gardens, and rung the chickens' necks, and
plucked them, for Sunday morning breakfast. She was always there for
everyone.
Papa was wonderful too. According to Bea, he was pretty strict on the
older children (she admits though, that she wanted to do what she wanted
to do--which didn't always meet with Papa's approval.) But, by the time
Jewell and I came along, he had mellowed. I remember sitting in his lap
for hours around the fire on cold winter nights. He would entertain me by
turning his eyelids wrong side out, and saying funny things. I remember
many times when he would offer Jewell and me a nickel if we would just be
quiet for five minutes!
Jewell and I had special chairs on either side
of Papa, naturally at the head of the table, at mealtime. I remember
when I was about four or five, Papa glared at me (you didn't want to be
on the receiving end of that glare) when I refused to eat Liver. I stood
up on my knees, leaned over right in front of him and said, "YOU OLD BROWN
EYES YOU!!" Of course, Papa's eyes were blue, blue, and that brought
hilarious laughter from everyone at the table...and a little relief from
me, when he didn't spank me. Everybody in the family had blue eyes but
me. Mine were green.
Papa was a very smart man, and until his death, worked the hardest of
crossword puzzles, wherever he could find them. One other thing: every
day he would dress with a long-sleeved white shirt and tie, even in
summer. It was only in his very later years that he would wear short
sleeved shirts in summer.
I can't tell you why Ed left home very young and joined the
Navy. Most likely it was a "fractious" situation. Beatrice tells me that
Papa was much different toward the older children than with Jewell and
me, and I think she and Papa clashed often. I feel certain Beatrice
could tell you what happened, even though she would have been young at
the time. Elaine and Bea were the closest of friends, so they would
probably have talked about it. When she calls me on Saturday, I'll ask
her if she can shed any light on that.
I just remember times when Ed
would come home after being away and he would have so many stories to
tell that we would all sit around the dining room table for hours,
hanging on every word. One that I remember most is a time when he was
at port in China (Hong Kong or Singapore, I guess) and he paid a visit to
Miss Julia Wasson, a missionary there who was from Ethel. Miss Julia
invited him and his buddy to stay for tea. The maid brought a plate of
little sandwiches, stacked pretty high in four rows. Ed was supposed to
take just one sandwich, but he took a whole stack (we didn't serve tea in
Ethel much in does days.) I always thought that was so funny, and Ed
realized his mistake when everyone else took just one sandwich. He was
embarrassed!!
I think of Ed very often. He was always so sweet to me. When Jewell and
I wanted to go to Blue Mountain College, he came home and drove us and
Mama to see about it. And I think he was the kind of person who would
do anything for you. When I think of the great friends they had through
the years, the kind that are your friends forever, I attribute that to
the caring, loving people that they, themselves, were.
One funny thing Beatrice told me not too long ago: she ran into James
Brooks, one of my high school classmates, and he inquired about me. He said
he used to walk me home after school and ball games, etc. Beatrice said,
"You mean you walked Clara home and you weren't afraid of Papa." He
said, "Yes, I was very afraid of your Dad, but I walked her home anyway."
I thought that was so funny, as I had long since forgotten it, though I
never knew he was afraid. Papa was a big man, and guess to some he could
seem menacing. But he was sweet.
Everette was a
wonderful man. For years he managed Jim Eastland's plantation in
Doddsville. I went there many times as a little girl. We also visited
Everette and Grace at Parchman. I think he did a great job there. He did what
he had to do. This was in the middle of the civil rights movement, and
there was some controversy over Parchman's handling of the "marchers".
And there was a representative or senator (I believe), who kept stirring
up some undeserved bad publicity. I ran across an article written by
Carolyn's son, Hiram, after Everette's death which summed Everette's character
up quite well. Once, after Papa's death, a car pulled up in front of my
house and a man got out. It looked so much like Papa that I almost
fainted. It was Everette. I will make a copy of the article and send it
to you. (I'm so disorganized that it will take a little scrambling to
put my hands on these things. This would be a good time to get
organized, wouldn't it?)
I loved the Ethel photos. The website was created by Edward Hutchison of Madison, Ms. I believe
he is the grandson of one of the Clifton girls. As you will see, they had 11
children. I'm not sure how many were girls, without looking back at the photo, but
I do remember that Ludie and one of them competed for Miss Ethel High
School and Ludie won. I think, privately, there was a little competition
going on between the Clifton girls and the Breazeale girls.
The Sally Burchfield is Beatrice's best friend. She still lives in Ethel.
Her father and mother moved to Ethel from High Point North Carolina, and
lived a stone's throw from us in the big house, before you get to the
road going down town. Directly across the road, Mr. Burchfield ran an old-fashioned blacksmith shop, and ground corn into cornmeal for folks
around town. I remember several times taking corn there for him to
grind. Sally was married to one of the Bond boys (his brother is
mentioned in the photo).
I realized I didn't make the point clear where Sally Burchfield Bond
(also Ellen, older sister, my friend Ann, and their younger sister Carol
Ann), lived. What I meant to say was that WE lived in the big house and
Mr. Burchfield built their house no more than 500 yards away from ours (I'm not good at
distances). I don't believe Mama was related to the
Blacksmith, Mr. Burchfield. Grandma Burchfield (Mama's and Aunt
Sally's Mama), lived on a farm just a few miles out of Ethel, and I do
believe Mama was born there. So, I don't think the Burchfield's who lived next
to us were related to us. I remember when they moved to Ethel from High
Point, NC, but we were so close we might as well have been cousins.
I think our house, at the time, was the largest in Ethel. Papa bought it from
the original owner and it had a number of acres of land behind it (I will verify with Auntie Bea). It had a huge front porch that wrapped
around the side, and there were at least six big rocking chairs on it. I
remember all of us sitting out there many times, inclulding Elaine, and
someone would mention hamburgers. Everybody would scrounge in their
pockets to find enough nickels (the cost of one), and they would send me
just across the railroad for a sack full of the most delicious hamburgers
in the world. Robert said they were made with part pork sausage, which
gave them such a good taste. Does that not sound like fun to you? Of
course, that could have contributed to my being chubby in my early teens,
which is probably how people in Ethel remember me...the Breazeale girl
with the blue bicycle. I will send what few pics I have of those days. I
want them (the people of Ethel) to know that I was quite skinny by the
time I was 18. (If I had a smiley button I would push it right about
here.)
On navigating the streets of Ethel:
Until we get the map, try to visualize this. Coming on the Highway from
Kosciusko to Ethel, you turn to the right and go probably a mile on a
street lined with houses. At the first chance, turn to the right and go
across the railroad. Our house sat way back from the road. (You can see
it from where Beatrice's house sits now.) Everyone used to just leave
all doors unlocked in those times, even though during the depression we
saw a lot of hobo's, and many of them would come to the back door of our
house and ask for food. It was not uncommon either for towns/or country
folk having a hard time to come to our house at all hours to see if Mr.
Charlie could help them out. He always did if he could.
The Burchfield's house was on the same side of the road as ours. Mr.
Burchfield's shop was directly across the road, and that was the
beginning of the "business district" of Ethel, which at one time was
quite thriving. You will hear about that on Bea's TV tape. You will
also hear Bea talk about Mollar Vandenboom Lumber Company where she
worked for many years. To get there you took a quick right down a side
road (which was between us and the RR).
To
get to Bea's house, BEFORE you cross the RR, you take a quick left. And if
you look out her back door, across the road and up a small incline sits
Ethel School. I always thought it was the steepest hill, but it either
wasn't or it got smaller. It could get really cold in Ethel in
winter. In my minds eye, I can see Jewell and me, plain as day, walking to
school, and as we crossed the RR, my little ankles were so cold I thought
they would break.
That's
great that the streets have names now. I don't remember that they were
named when I lived there.
I don't know how to pinpoint locations on the map, but Pope Street would be
the one with houses on either side as you come into town. Turn at the
first little short road (street?) crossing across the railroad. A sharp right takes you
down Mill Road to Mollar Vandenboom Lumber Co. The next very short
little street would lead to our Big House. The Burchfield house would be
in the first little curve of that street. The
Blacksmith was directly across the road from the Burchfields. That road
leads on through town, with Allen Chevrolet Company being the anchor
business on the right hand side, just before the road curves and goes back
across the railroad. Beatrice talks, in her interview, about what a large
business this was.
Almost all the businesses at that time were on the
right-hand side of the street (going from our house to Allens's Chevy).
I think there were three Mercantile companies, a drug store (and Dr.
McBride), The Bank of Ethel, Ethel Post Office, at least one cafe (Kirby
and Roberta Day's where we all hung out).
Kirby was blind, and it was unbelievable that the minute he
heard your footsteps coming in the door, he would call out to you by
name. There was also the ice house (once Lillian sent Bobby and me to get ice
for tea. The ice came in blocks and something happened--either they sold us a
small or melting block of ice and it fell out of the string before we got
home, or we lollygagged along the way. Anyway, we got back without any ice. Bobby handed Lillian the
string and said, "Here's the stwang.").
On retiring from Keesler AFB:
I ran across video from my retirement party at Keesler in April,
1991. You will NOT want to look at the whole thing! The first part is just
folks arriving (178 "paying guests") and having cocktails before dinner
(very boring). I say "paying guests" (Standard Operating Procedure for functions there--even the General
has to pay) because Rebecca told me she had thought the Air Force paid
for it. I had paid for Becca, Brad and five or six couples who were our
closest friends through the years, so she didn't know. Everette's Elaine
and Joe Brown were there. I was so flattered that so many people
came. Working in the Command Section at Keesler was the best thing I ever
did. Not only was that where the action was, but I worked with the cream
of the crop. I would like you to see the last part. After the dinner,
Major General Paul Harvey, my boss, serves as Master of Ceremonies for
presentations, etc., followed by music by the 502nd Air Force Band, which
was then at Keesler. At the last my colleagues in the Command Section
sing to me, "I'll be Seeing You," followed by an invitation to B' and me
to dance. I was a little embarrassed by that, but as you will see, it
went off o.k., and it was a great way to end a career. Only Bea in my
family has seen this. I never really talked too much about my work.
We were "sitting" a spell on our front porch yesterday, and I pointed out
the distance I thought the Burchfields lived from us. B' said no more
than 75 yards, so "erase" what I said about it being 500 yards. There
was one other thing that I wanted to correct, but can't think of it
now--guess it was not earth shaking. Oh, now I know. I said Papa only
earned $50.00 in his first year of marriage--according to the article, it
was in six months.
On visiting Uncle Felix "Bush" Breazeale:
And you won't believe this, but Papa
evidently had heard about this funeral and wanted to go see him.
Everette and Grace came and drove Papa, Jewell (or was it Mama) and me to
Tennessee where we wound through the mountains to find his home. He was
there and was very hospitable; took us to the little house where he kept
his coffin and we stayed for quite a while. Can't remember exactly when
we went there, but it must have been soon after the first "funeral".
I'm really glad to read about his father, Drury, and that name is
sprinkled all through our early genealogy.
I had always heard that there were three Breazeale brothers who migrated
from the East to the South, one settling in Mississippi (our lineage), one in
Tennessee (Uncle Bush's lineage), and one in Louisiana.
About four years ago, Brad and I went to a cousin's (On the Childress
side) wedding. It was like a whole weekend affair to include a golf
tournament. The invitation to that was written on letterhead from a
Breazeale Law Firm in Baton Rouge. I inquired about that and was told
all Breazeales connected to the firm were deceased, but it still bore the
name. Later, I was on a Breazeale Message board and mentioned that, in
case anyone knew. Months later I received an e-mail from a lady in Baton
Rouge about some letters in the LSU archives. I think I still have it
and will send it to you.
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