Clarence was 13 or 14 when the family moved away from there when his folks bought a farm (1939 or 1940). His initial memories are, according to him, he "slaved away on the farm" where he chopped weeds out of the beans, plowed the fields, and performed various unpleasant farm duties.
During this time, the boys, being very hungry, took their BB guns and went out and shot sparrows. They brought them home and had sister Lil cook them up for them. The family also had an old stinky billy goat, and one day their dad said, kill the goat and feed it to the dogs. Well, they did, but while it was cooking, it smelled so good that they all decided to eat it instead and just give the bones to the dogs. Dad also has some stories about fish sandwiches, remembering that he liked salmon soups (of all the soups they ate), and eating kid goats occasionally. One story he related was about the home-made tractor. When the parents were away (Allen and Sevilla often went off together to sell/demo the cookware that Allen sold), Clarence and the boys would get the key to the tractor and bomb-off down the road, raising all kinds of dust. Anyway, the neighboring farmer must have said something, because dad started hiding the key when he and Sevilla would leave. So, the boys dug through the old keys that their dad kept (because he never threw anything away), and they found a key that fit, so they all jumped onto the tractor and went tooling down the road - having a heck of a time. Anyway, when dad got home, he asked inquisitivily, has anyone been driving the tractor? And the response back was: How could we, you hid the key didn't you? (probably realizing or later realizing that dad felt the heat from the engine as he came in).
There was also an incident at school where someone (teachers?) was giving Stanley a hard time, so mysteriously some sulfur got into the school's old pot-belly stove, and the school had to be evaluated.
At the age of 14 and 15, Clarence worked on his Uncle Leon Bishop's farm, milking, feeding cows, plowing fields, and spreading manure. At 16 Clarence worked in a cigar box factory, then at age 17 he worked in a pants factory making button holes with a sewing machine.
When Clarence was about 18, he was approached by Henry Scheetz and his brother Stan (who was tired of eating Sparrows) about signing up with a civilian work force needed in Pearl Harbor. He declined, wanting to wait until he was 18 and then join the Navy. His mother, however, talked to him and asked him to go with Stan and his friend Henry (brother of Ken Scheetz who later married his sister Lillian).
Clarence signed up for the 18 month service contract, and the three of them waited for their orders and travel arrangements to come through. During this time two other friends decided to sign up, and asked the others to wait for them. Orders arrived and Clarence, Stan, and Henry had to leave. Charlie Bleem and Harry Swartz were to catch up. Clarence, Stan, and Henry took a train from Quakertown to Richmond, Calif. where they worked at Mare Island for about a month waiting for a transport ship to take them to Pearl Harbor.
During the 4 day trip to Hawaii, the ship had to stop to repair an air conditioner. So they spread a layer of smoke all around the ship to hide it from Japanese submarines. Note: There were about 1200 labor workers on board. Clarence arrived in Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the clean-up crew for the USS Oklahoma that had just been raised. He said that there was a lot of black sludge, coins, and stuff you would expect to find from a bombed ship with sailors on board.
While Clarence, Stan, and Henry started working in Pearl; Harry had gotten his orders and traveled to Mare Island leaving his friend Charlie to catch up. When Harry arrived, he worked at Mare Island waiting for his ship to Pearl to catch up to the first 3; however, after a few weeks he realized that this wasn't for him, so he decided to terminate his contract and head back to PA. By this time Charlie finally received his orders and headed for Mare Island only to find out that the first 3 were already in Pearl Harbor and his friend Harry went back to PA. So that same day he too caught the train back to PA without working a single day.
For 18 months Clarence worked cleaning up ships, scaling water tanks, and doing lots of tough labor jobs. When the 18 months was about up, Clarence was drafted into the Naval Reserves (to keep the Army from getting the labor force). He also signed up for another 18 months. During this time Clarence took leave and Stan did not renew. So they both headed back home to PA, and only Clarence returned to Pearl Harbor.
Henry and Clarence worked in Pearl Harbor when the war ended. Clarence now worked as a driver often driving officers to various places on the island. Once the war was over, the Navy offered an early release to the workers and Henry decided to head home. Clarence remained for a few more months and then the Navy sent him home as well (no longer needing the extra personnel).
Clarence now age 21 messed around about a month in PA, and then joined the Army where he went to Camp Polk in Louisiana for 6 weeks training, and then on to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital where he worked as a medical aide/nurses aid caring for many of the men coming back from the war. While at Fitzsimmons he met Viola. He got out of the Army late in 1947, returned to PA, got a job as a butcher, and sent for Viola whom he planned to marry around Christmas time. Anyway, Vi sent a special delivery letter stating the time that she would be arriving. Unfortunately, the letter was only placed in the mail pickup box (and not delivered), so Clarence was unaware of Vi's arrival. But, fortunately, he borrowed his brothers car and headed to check the mail that same day that Vi was to arrive. Upon reading Vi's letter, he realized that she was at the train station right then, and he rushed out to get her. Unfortunately, in his haste and with the road snowpacked, he landed up in the ditch and had to get his brothers to help pull the car out.
Fortunately, this mishap wasn't too fatal. Clarence and Vi got married in February of 1948; and Clarence worked as a butcher for four years. Vi, however, suffered from allergies and head colds, so they decided to move to a drier climate (Colorado). Clarence traded his 1948 Chevy for a 1947 GMC truck that they loaded up with the furniture and the 3 kids. In Maryville, Kansas they got bogged down by a snow storm and stayed in a motel for the night. At noon the next day the roads opened up; and they continued on to Colorado to live in Vi's sister Martha's basement. Clarence drove his truck looking for work, and U.S. Plywood said they needed a person to work deliveries and help in the warehouse. So they leased or consigned the truck from Clarence who worked mostly delivering lumber to various parts of Denver.
Clarence and Vi quickly bought a house in Aurora for approximately $8,000. Clarence later joined the Air Force Reserves, and Vi's brother Eloy sold Clarence a 1941 Plymouth. Later they purchased a Henry J, and years later purchased a 1949 Plymouth (or was it a Gray Dodge).
One day Clarence came home with a bunny in his lunch box, which his children enjoyed seeing. Clarence spent a lot of time with his 3 boys, fishing, hunting, ice skating, sliding, or just playing and joking around. Once Clarence came home and quickly called KIMN radio station and won $100.00 when he picked the right horse in a prerecorded publicity race.
Clarence worked at U.S. Plywood for 9 or 10 years, and then took a job with Rio Grande Motorways where he worked until his retirement. During this time the family purchased a ranch in New Mexico from his father-in-law, and besides hunting and fishing, the family spent many vacations hiking the mountains in New Mexico. Clarence hunted Mule Deer in Buena Vista, Hayden, Maybell, and Hamilton; and hunted Elk by the Eisenhower tunnel, on Ute Pass, and at Williams Fork. Unfortunately, Clarence never did down an Elk. He left that pleasure to all of his sons.
Clarence and Vi often spent summers working on the ranch, and enjoying time with their grandchildren who often went with them (either to work or just play). Hiking the mountains, going to the bat cave, and feeding the humming birds was now some of the enjoyable times. Clarence and Vi bought 4-wheelers for getting around easier; however, these vehicles also seemed to become the grandchildren's passion.
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