Clement Lewis Rawlins - I Remember My Dad
So many, many "little things" come running back to me this first day that we have been without him -- things that keep adding to a complete picture of my ad. I am on my way from Provo to Salt Lake o be with Frances and Clem to make family arrangements. My heart is full and 1 keep stopping in the emergency stop lane on the freeway to scribble down some of the thoughts that are tumbling from my memories.
Oh, yes, I remember
this gentle, sweet man --- our father.
I remember
his many strengths and his weaknesses
with love and with tenderness.
I remember
his infinite kindness and his patience.
I Will always treasure
the special pride he kindled in us
for our family heritage --- for those brave,
faithful wonderful pioneer ancestors.
Oh, yes, Junior, Frances, Sid, Dixie we must not
let our children forget Grandfather Lewis and
Grandpa Rawlins and their contribution in the
early days of "Poverty Plats". We must
not ever forget the Lewises, the Petty's the
Rawlins', the Frosts, the Waddoups".
And most especially in remembering my Dad -- I can
never forget his love for the land --- his land---
Lewiston Cache Valley.
And oh, how I remember his complete --- almost childlike
--- trust and faith in people. And he was always
the understanding, loving, forgiving defender.
And how he loved his neighbors --- "the best in the
whole world!"
And he was a wonderful neighbor, too!
He was the kind of man to whom my son, John --- on a mission in Peru --- would send a birthday card addressed simply GRAMPY RAWLINS, LEWISTON, UTAH --- and have it delivered --- no problem. And my other son, Brad, always took all his girl friends to Lewiston to visit Nanny and Grampy (one at a time, of course).
He was cheerful, good natured and had a fine sense of humor. He could always laugh when we would tell our favorite stories about him. One I remember which has become a family classic --- is the day he was busily working at the barn. Mother had dinner ready and asked us kids to call him. We did -- again and again --- waiting in vain for him to join us. Finally other sent us out again to tell him we were still waiting. He looked up from his job in annoyance and said, 'I told you an hour ago I'd be there in a minute!"
He and Mother were avid snorts fans. They followed their favorite teams, knew all the players --- their averages and so on. Of course the Aggies could do no wrong, but they followed pro football, pro-basketball and baseball, too. I never dared call them during a game. And if we came to see them when they were watching one, we just had to sit quietly and wait til it was over. Sometimes they would be watching one game on TV and listening to two others on radios. Big League baseball was one of their loves For many years Dad and Bert Pond had a standing bet on the Dodgers and the Yankees.
They were also intensely interested in the political picture. They read everything they cold find on the National political scene and, as they grew older, they would get up, read the Tribune editorials, and after a heated discussion, their blood pressure would be raised sufficiently to get them through the day.
Dad and Mother spent their honeymoon at Bear Lake. Following their marriage in the Logan Temple sixty five years ago, they drove a buggy pulled by Old Bay, and together with Aunt Ila and Uncle Les Peterson, started through beautiful Logan Canyon.
Bear Lake was always so special to all of us for that reason that it has been the favorite vacation and reunion spot for children and grandchildren ever since.
Dad was a tender, loving husband. He worshiped Mother. I remember how he always kissed her whenever he left the house--- to milk the cows, 'turn the water' --- whatever.
He always thought she was so beautiful and noticed with a critical or an appreciative eye whatever she was wearing. He commented on the way she looked until the day before he left her. Our cousin, Bess, from Redlands came to visit on Tuesday and Dad told Mother how lovely she looked. He really liked her hair but ---"Berness put the wrong dress on her. She looks prettier in the other pink one", he said, and he kept fussing about it even the next day when he began feeling ill.
He always supported Mother in anything she wanted to do. He admired her keen intellect and thought she was "the smartest girl in the world" --- She is!
Mother and Dad complemented each other. He needed her special strengths. She needed his solicitude his protectiveness his tenderness and loving concern.
Dad never thought it "sissy" nor beneath his manhood to hang out clothes, to change diapers, to do the marketing.
He was an indulgent father I never remember him scolding or spanking me. And when I was a child, he always let me sleep with him on Christmas Eve --- because I was "scared of Santa Claus."
Not many families get to be as old as we are and still have both their parents. We have been unbelievably blessed to have had not one break in the family in 65 years What a security blanket that has been for us all!
When I talked with Sid from Illinois, he said, " I guess I thought Dad was indestructible --- that he would always be there" --- And he will be for all of us who love him.
_____Berne S Oct. 16, 1976
Clement Lewis Rawlins
Aug. 12, 1885--Oct. 15, 1976