Edith Marie (Whitmire) McClain (1917 - 2003)

Born 30 May 1917 in Butler, PA

Ancestors

Wife of LeRoy Morris McClain — married 12 Jul 1948 in Butler, PA

Descendants

Died 4 Sep 2003 at age 86 in Jacksonville, FL

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kevin McClain [send private message]

Biography

Edith was born in 1917. She was the eldest child of Lester and Elizabeth, and they loved her dearly. I have old photos of her as a newborn and infant on the farmstead.

She attended the local high school and eventually a local secretary college, where she learned to be a typist. I posses some of her school work, and a notebook full of typed letters and files.

She was very slim, had brown, wiry hair and thin lips. She was stylish, but modest. In ever picture I have of her young she is smiling and seems to be confident, even enjoying herself.

She married Leroy McClain in 1948. She had known him before he went to war. She was the last of the four Whitmire girls to be married. Within 5 years, they had two sons, Richard and Donald.

Her mother has a stroke in the 50s, and I recall hearing that it was very hard, physically and emotionally, to care for her ailing mother.

Edith, the daughter of a farmer, was a great gardener and a skilled cook. I recall her, in her 60s and 70s, weeding by hand the rows of tomatoes, peppers and beans. The harvest would be huge and they would be on the back porch and in the garage as she prepared them for cooking, canning or giving away to friends and neighbors. I recall the huge output of the two rows of raspberry bushes; I loved raspberry season, when I could just walk down the row and eat!

She was proud of the flowers that lined the driveway up to the house, and around the sides of the house. She seemed to believe in the goodness and even healing power of nature, and I recall there always being seed and natural remedies catalogs in the home. She had a large vitamin cabinet, and always seemed interested in recommending vitamins to us. She worked hard in the kitchen and we had great Thanksgiving dinners. The kitchen was her domain; her food was not extravagant, in fact it was very simple. In hindsight it was the food of someone who grew up on a farm, of someone who was the daughter of a "truck farmer", and who said once they were never hungry through the depression. Her mashed potatoes and cranberry salad were the best. She always called my grandfather into the kitchen, away from watching football or some nature show, to carve the meat. She was old-fashioned in this way.

She was very active in church, and attended faithfully. Every time we visited we would go to First Baptist in Butler, and she would proudly re-introduce us every time to her fellow congregants. But I have no memory of her talking about the particulars of her faith, of doctrine. She told me she prayed for me, for our family. She would always sit attentively through the Sunday sermon, in contrast to my Grandfather, who would either fall asleep, or slip out and walk down the street to the corner shop and buy a cup of coffee and talk to the barkeep. She did not act like it was her place to evangelize, but she believed in missionary work. She had a sewing room, and I recall her sewing children's clothes to donate to missionaries. Her obituary says, "she was a member of First Baptist Church in Butler, the church's Truth Seekers Sunday school class and the Women's Missionary Fellowship."^[1]

She did once tell me of an event in the late 30s, a revival in a sawdust tabernacle. She showed me a photo taken of a large group in the structure. It was significant to her because she was in the photo, and so was some of her brothers, one with a trumpet.

She exhibited a simple yet strong faith in Christ, exemplified by prayer and service. I believe it sustained her.

Greenlawn Burial Estates
Find A Grave Memorial# 130723418

^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/butlereagle/obituary.aspx?n=edith-m-mcclain&pid=1375757#sthash.USvgvULx.dpuf
2. ↑ First-hand information as remembered by Kevin McClain

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