Clara (Butner) Ballengee

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Biography

"Mommmagee" (Clara) would send her grandkids a huge box on their birthday,. It was always an 18x18x18 inch box filled with candy to the top. Every candy known to kiddom!! I loved the caramels, the peppermints and the Mary Janes... She played the autoharp, a magical instrument to me, as the chords played hymns and bluegrass songs, along with the old standards like "Down by the Old Mill Stream." She, like her sisters, loved cats and always had one. Wanting a portrait of her beloved cat, "Olen Mills" refused. So she enlisted her grandson to hold her precious feline..."killing two birds with one stone:" she would say. This photo was kept in her wallet til she died. She worked for the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, night shift for many many years. She was a young widow of Charles Patton Ballengee, ^[1] and was forced to leave her only child, Billie Charlene in the keeping of her mother and father-in- law, Shannon Lee Ballengee, ^[2] and Melcenia Liston Miller Ballengee, ^[3],while she worked. After retirement she moved to Richmond Virginia to be near her daughter and grandchildren. She had many stories of her childhood in Rural Retreat, and we would laugh our heads off at the bizarre, sometime "naughty" names of real people she came across in her years of working for Social Security. Born a "Blue Baby" she was laid out in the parlor because the ground was frozen and too hard to bury her right away. One of her sisters came in to see her and noticed her fingers quivering. She grabbed her up and took her over to the fire and revived her. As told by Clara Butner Ballengee many times, I have heard her tell this story and my mom Billie Charlene also has told it.

Sources

1. ↑ Findagrave memorial for Charles Patton Ballengee
2. ↑ Findagrave memorial for Shannon Lee Ballengee
3. ↑ Findagrave memorial for Melcenia Liston Miller Ballengee

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