Faces I Remember
A Memoir
by
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One night I went to a church social for my age group. This activity was something the Baptist churches believed in. There were not many people there, so my friend Doris and her boyfriend brought me home. Since it was fairly early, they asked me to ride to town with them for some ice cream. I went inside and got permission from my parents. Surprisingly, they let me go. When we started to drive off, I doubt that Bob even as much as held my hand. We just had an innocent good time. When I returned home that night around
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About the Book
We are a family that broke the chain of child abuse and rejection from our father. Some people who knew my daddy would never believe a person like him could have fooled them so badly. Yet, we still have people say to us today “Your daddy was such a nice man.” I have simply opened the doors to the house that I grew up in and described the way my mama, my sisters, and I really had to live. Telling the truth has been a very hurtful experience for me, but I feel cleansed. I feel relieved that we no longer have to live guarding our horrible family secret.
Some people may be brazen enough to ask, “Why even tell it now? How can you do this to your now deceased father?”
Well, my answer would be that Daddy told his own story, lived his own life, and did not care who suffered from it. He set a terrible example of double standards for us, his children. He beat the devil out of us for nothing. He robbed us of a precious childhood that could never be regained. He robbed us of enjoyment, innocence, and security. But in the end and with God’s help, we won. We learned how to love our spouses, how to be committed to our marriages, how to rear children with love born out of unfair suffering and misguided and unmerciful punishment. His sick motives and immoral behavior that so long imprisoned us did not keep us bound forever.
My sisters and I all survived our horrible past. By the grace of God we have left a generation of sin and have become a generation of blessings. If we can survive our past and thrive in our lives, others can hope to do so as well.
About the Author
Clara was born and lives in rural Kershaw County, SC, a part of the deep South and the Bible belt. A wife of a former Marine, she is a mother of two, grandmother of four, and two great-grand children. She is a graduate of Mt. Pisgah High School and retired from Springs Mills after thirty-five years. Clara is a member of Buffalo Baptist Church and an active Sunday School Teacher.
She enjoys being with her family and her five sisters and their families.
Clara describes her childhood and youth growing up with an abusive and controlling father. She recalls the awkward feeling of seeing four eccentric uncles and all their exploits including being married to 13 women. Her heart-breaking story with laughter, tears, religion, war, adultery, sex, and murder will weave its way into the hearts of many and help people come to an understanding of why she had to tell her story.