This was a shocker. After a long night of homework, I checked the R-Js main page at 1 a.m. and saw a familiar photo and Terry Badlands in the headline. My dad in 1912 established a homestead a few miles away near Cherry Creek. I grew up in Terry but never saw the Calypso Trail until four years at a Terry class reunion. There are going to be some proud Terry High grads when they see that this story went national. The timing is mind boggling. Wednesday, I gave a speech yesterday that incorporated my family history for the first time. Heres a story from the Great Depression that my half-brother, Charles Guib Clarke told: My dad and his family were just hanging at the lowpoint of the depression. He had to make a tough choice: they were nearly out of money but they had to eat. They had one horse and one cow. He chose to keep the cow because he could sell the milk and cream. My fathers first wife died during the depression. Albert Brubaker, who ran the State Bank of Terry for decades, told me early in my journalist career that my dad was $19,000 in debt as a result of the Great Depression. That was unheard of. Others who were struggling had their credit cut much sooner when they owed less. Albert said his dad believed my dad was good for it -- and he was. Paid back back every dollar. Imagine my family pride when Albert told me that story. And then theres my grandfather, who left England in 1882 to start a new life in Americas Wild West. He sailed with his family from Liverpool to Montreal and took trains to present-day Miles City, Mont. If you saw Lonesome Dove, with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, thats the world my grandparents entered and put down roots at the height of the Great Texas cattle drives to Eastern Montana. This was just six years after Gen. Custer and his troops died about 90 miles away. Would I love to interview my grandparents and my dad.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:52:33 +0000