My July trip to Kansas City was incredible. Not only did I get to meet my dad's half-sister, Mae Clayborn, but we also had the first-ever Hubbell family reunion.
Hubbell Family Reunion
Olathe Park was over 100 degrees. Everyone brought a dish and we created a sign-in sheet for everyone. My dad's cousins, Terry, Larry and Ann Marie came. I met Larry back in 2003, and he reminded me of a younger version of my dad. He said he never knew Jimmy really well, as he was a lot older than he was.
Terry remembered that dad and Billy always got a ride to school and would make sure the others noticed that they were 'special' when the others had to walk.
We talked and ate and tried to stay cool. Next time, I'll have to plan a cooler time period (like April or May). I collected as much information on family group sheets as I could and Terry suggested I mail this ahead of time in the future, so the information can be more complete.
Meeting Mae
My brother and I spent an entire day with Mae, going over what she remembered about her uncles and what she knew of my dad and Billy. She mentioned a visit from her Uncle Clarence when she was an adult. Clarence brought pictures of both my dad and his brother. He said that her father had these two boys before he married her mother. He said Jimmy was in the Navy and doing well and that Billy, not so good. Mae told her uncle she knew about the boys as he mother told her.
Clarence and Esther Clayborn, I believe, were the ones that kept in touch with my grandmother, and kept up with the boys through my grandmother. There is evidence they went to one another's funerals and family events. Mae remembers rushing to look for "Daisy," who came to her dad's funeral in 1972, just to miss her by a few minutes. Clarence and Esther went to my grandmother's funeral in 1985, and my Aunt Patty's wedding in 1973. As I mentioned earlier, my first clue to finding this family were school pictures with the "Clayborn" name on them, similar to those pictures of my generation, in 2003, that were in my grandmother's things. I could not find these same pictures when I returned to Aunt Patty's this year.
Mae had tried for years to find my dad or his brother. One of the interesting obstacles was that the name my grandmother used was Daisy King, not her accurate name of Pansy King. What a difference a flower makes! Patty and I pondered if this was a nickname Thurston had for her or an intentional name change to make it difficult to be found. She had the name Hubbell, but no success, mostly due to the name change.
We went to the Olathe cemetary with Mae and Patty to visit graves and take pictures. Another fascinating fact was that Earl Clayborn (Thurston's brother) is buried a row or two in front of my grandmother, Pansy King, and her husband, Burnham.
Before Grandma was Grandma
Digging through a Hubbell box of pictures, we found many pictures that I don't remember seeing before. One picture was dated 1938 and had my grandmother with another young lady. My grandmother's notes on the picture said NYA (National Youth Association) Topeka with her name and 'Helen Graves' on the bottom. The picture showed a beautiful young woman with the style of the day. This was the summer after graduation from high school, shortly before she got pregnant with my dad.
What did I learn? The Kansas State Historical Society indicated this was the National Youth Association, the so-called New Deal for Women. It provided jobs and training for young women. As the WPA and other programs had been a god-send for many of my great uncles, my aunt said that she had no doubt my grandmother would have been encouraged to participate.
This was an interesting glimpse into the young life of a woman I never got to know that well. What I imagine is that this training no doubt was empowering women to go out into the workplace, by providing them training and skills. I'll be researching more about the NYA and the Topeka conference to see what I can find.
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