March 17, 1976 Charles Eugene Wilbourn (b. Jan 1, 1895 d. 1989) Son of James Evin Claunch and Annie Bettie Claunch Wilbourn Memories of our Grandparents, "Pa" and "Ma" Claunch Being the eldest I thought I might have some memories that you did not have...though all of you have your own remembrances of them. My first recollection of them seems to have been soon after the family moved from Culberhouse to Jonesboro. Grandpa had a short white beard, white hair and a florid complexion. He seemed to change little over the years and neither did Ma. Grandpa was hot tempered and I was always somewhat in awe of him, though he never treated me unkindly. As the saying went "He was not afraid of the old devil." And some of you may have heard the story about the time he thought a man was going to steal his horse. He was sitting on the porch one moonlight night when he saw a man leave the barn - so he went to the barn with only a pocket knife for protection. He waited an hour or so but the man did not return. As a country doctor I know he fulfilled a need in the community of scattered farms where they lived, and as far as I know he was the only one for miles. Doctors those days carried the few medicines they had with them and dispensed them to the patients themselves. Mama told a story about the time he was riding through the woods to make a call on a sick patient; he happened to look up and saw a large wolf with thi's front feet on a log calmly watching him. He rode on and the wolf did not follow. He thought it might have a den nearby. Grandpa was reared on a pioneer farm in Tenn and later he lived on one in Ark while he and Ma were raising their family. Being accustomed to hardships he and the family did not greatly change their mode of living after moving from the farm to Jonesboro. He did have water piped to the kitchen and a telephone installed - but I recall they used oil lamps until I was about 18 years old. They bought flour by the barrel, sugar in large amounts, cheese by the hoop, and Ma ground coffee and black pepper, also made soap and lye hominy. Each fall they got enough sorghum, [and] honey from their farm - which they still owned - to last them several months, also corn for the horses. One time Grandpa bought a barrel of apple cider and we children were given all we wanted when there [wasn't] any one else. So the barrel was soon empty. Someone else in the family has described Ma as being the best of grandmothers - and I fully agree. She had little education having been reared an orphan but she had a big and generous heart and devoted her life to her family. Ma cultivated a large garden each summer and the family virtually lived from it - plus the great number of chickens she raised. One day when I was eating dinner with them the ice-man came and Ma cut him and his Negro helper a large piece of pie. Even the mail carrier was given a drink of water on a warm afternoon. The family were great ice tea drinkers in the summer and Grandpa drank it from an overside tumbler. We seldom had tea at home as Mama thought it not good for us. When young I thought that Ma's house as being one word. For some reason we never said we were going to Grandpa's house. Grandpa liked his toddy and he usually took a good size one before the noon meal - and with water and sugar. Unlike most men of his time, he did not use tobacco. He believed in letting his women folks wait on him. And this Ma and Aunt Lottie did. When looking at an Ark road map sometime past I was pleased to note that "Claunch" was still shown. Both Pa and Ma lived in their middle 80's and I know all of us are proud that we had these two as our grandparents.