My Mother

Mary Ethel Orene Burgess Clifford came from Southern Illinois, to Gainesville, AR in a covered wagon with her Mother Florence Higdon Burgess and her Father James Oscar Burgess along with Brothers Gilbert and Gene, Sisters Frankie, Carrie, and Rena. Her Grandfather James had migrated from Ireland in 1860. He got off a ship in New York, (age 17 or 18) and having no source of income, walked across the street to a Union Recruiting booth and joined the Union Army as a water boy. Somewhere along the way he became familiar with the Navy and after the war found himself Captain and half owner of a Riverboat. His partner was a Riverboat Gambler. They sold the boat and built the first brick building in Greenville, MS. It was a hotel and a bar on the first floor with a house of ill repute on the second floor. The Gambler owed a debt of $5,000.00 and booked passage up North to pay off the debt, never returning.

I don’t know a lot about how James Jr. was born, but at some point, his father took him or at least left him in Southern Illinois with a woman and her daughter. The woman treated James well but the daughter was a tyrant, often beating James with a stick of firewood.

James was told by his father that on the event of his death James should come to Greenville and remove a stone from the fireplace where money or inheritance would be found. James did travel there on word of the death of his father. But when the Lawyers let him in the house, someone had already removed all the contents behind the stone, leaving James a long, hungry journey by foot back to Gainesville, AR.
Mary married Thomas Jewel (T.J. or Tom) Clifford. Their primary residence was a Duplex 2 storied house at 901 Rector Rd, built by Toms Mother Bertha B. Good Clifford. Bertha sold a pair of mules for the lumber to build the house. She then borrowed the mules to haul the lumber to the house site; paying two men to rough frame the house which she then finished roof and all. Tom, a Plumber/Master Pipefitter, his wife Mary and their son Jerry lived in one side of the duplex and Tom’s sister Zula Loften with sons Joe (Sonny) and Richard Loften in the other side. In time, Tom and Mary bought the other half of the duplex from the Loften’ s.
After the end of WWII Tom and Mary had a Baby Boom son named Larry, and two years later a daughter Nancy. Jerry had joined the Navy just after the Korean War ended and was quite surprised his parents started a second family.
Mary took a trip to Flint, Michigan to visit family working up there and her Mother’s Sister Rose. She came back to Paragould a day or two early and found Tom building a fishing boat in her kitchen. Piles of sawdust and debris greeted her. She of course threw a fit and told Tom if he could build a boat in the kitchen at least she could get a flour bin and nice cabinets built. She did that very week.

Mary was well known for her cooking and baking. As members of North End Mission, later Calvary Baptist Church, Mary always kept her table open for several different Pastors, Evangelists, Music Ministers and of course family. Guests would literally pass out after their Sunday meals and take naps much of the afternoons in the Clifford living room. There was a couch and chair, a recliner, a chase lounge, a rocking chair and of course a carpeted living room floor, and in the summer a hammock and porch swing out back. After naps, there were always plenty of leftovers before heading back to Church for the Evening Services.
Even as a kid I was amazed at the amount and variety of foods my Mom could produce in that little Kitchen. Before Daylight on Sunday Mom would start browning fried chicken. She’d have to break off cooking and drive our family car to pick up about a dozen or so ladies for Church, (Bertha Lloyd, Hattie Tucker, Shirley Latham, and many I can’t remember). The Church didn’t have a Church Bus so Mom supplied that service. She’d have to make two trips before Church, two trips after Church and then run home to finish getting the meal on the table. Sunday meals were a major operation. It took a 3-quart pressure cooker filled with potatoes to make enough mashed potatoes for the throng. There would be corn, green beans, and often sweet potatoes, rolls, at least two skillets of fried chicken, and white milk gravy. There was a little kids table, a breakfast bar, and the large dining room table. Even then some people had to take a plate to the living room. Many times, Mom would feed 25 people on Sunday.
Mom was famous in the neighborhood for all sorts of pies and cakes. There was always a plate of fried pies on the breakfast bar, along with leftover bacon, sausage, biscuits and white gravy from breakfast. As a boy I could walk by any time of the day and grab a snack. She made every kind of treat, cupcakes, cookies including vanilla and chocolate swirls, chocolate chip, sugar, and oatmeal, and even huge 4-5-inch cream puffs. Mom always kept wax paper rolls of cookie dough ready to slice off and bake in the refrigerator.
One of the families who were regular guests was the Tommy McDaniel Family with their son Gene McDaniel and his sister. Tommy was Music Minister at Calvary for quite some time. Mom always had a Folger’s Coffee Can filled with Sugar Cookies for Gene and one with Chocolate Chip Cookies for his sister.

Mary Clifford has been gone for many years now, but many people still remember her name from the 30 years she worked in the Church Nursery.